J A Whites Boys Academy for Higher Learning
by krazieevilchic
Summary: Riku and Axel are freshmen at prestigious J. A. Whites Boys Academy. School life seems normal, and boring. Just like a rich all boys school is supposed to be. That is until the new kid transfers in.
1. Chapter 1

"Hey everyone, my names Axel, got it memorized? Well you should know it well enough by now seeing as it's our second week of school. So, you're all probably thinking 'Wow that guy is so Über awesome cool, I wonder why he's late?' Well you see, it might be the fact that I was born that way. I was a week late for labour, and my mother says that I had a full head of red hair back then. So maybe it's a trait that all red haired people have. 'Course I wouldn't know, 'cause I only know one red haired person…Yes that person is me. But well you see I –"

"Axel please, just skip ahead to this morning." An older man in his early thirties said. The older man had short brown hair and talked with a welsh accent. He wore black dress pants, a burgundy shirt and a black tie.

"Right Mr. Mount anything you say! Well you see, the sun shone intensely this morning, through the window of my dorm room. So intensely that I just had to wake up, yell vague profanities, stomp around a bit, throw water on my room mate, close the cursed blinds of doom and trudge back to bed. This all before 10:00 am!"

"But Axel, first period starts at 9:00" Mr. Mount said.

"Geez Mr. M let me finish talking before you interrupt. God!" the fiery red headed student, Axel, said throwing his arms in the air. "Anyway where was I? Oh yeah! So it was before 10 am and I was like 'Oh hells no! After last nights party there is no way that I am going to wake up before 12!' And then after I had secured my pillow fort I realized that I was thirsty so I got up and changed and went to the cafeteria. When I got there I ran straight for the drinks. I talked to the lady at the counter and was all like 'Do you have some chocolate milk?' and she was like 'Sorry fresh out we do have banana flavoured milk though' CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT! HOW DO YOU RUN OUT OF CHOCOLATE MILK! YOU SHOULD JUST BUY AN INFINITE SUPPLY BECAUSE EVERYBODY IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD DRINKS CHOCOLATE MILK! Except for those people who are lactose intolerant, I pray everyday that God saves them from their terrible dairy-less lives. But anyway, since there was no chocolate milk and I really didn't feel like asking if there was any apple juice I decided to come to class. But as soon as I opened the door you were all like 'Axel how nice of you to join us, would you care to explain to us why you are late?' and I was like 'Sure Mr. M' and so I started talking and here we are. So that's why I was late." Axel stopped talking.

"Thank you Axel." Mr. Mount said. "I doubt it will ever cease to amaze me how you just keep talking when all I really want to hear is an 'I slept in Mr. Mount' instead of the stories you tell. Though this one was more realistic then last weeks tale about being abducted by alien space pigs who enlisted your help in fighting a legion vampire space cows using a Gundam."

"Hey! That story was completely factual!" Axel said while standing at the front of the class.

"But completely irrelevant to why you needed an extension on your writing assignment." Mr. Mount said.

"Which, now that you mention it can only be give to you in another few days" Axel said with a smile.

"Take your seat Axel" Mr. Mount said turning to write the lesson on the blackboard.

Axel walked to his seat by the middle classroom window, as Mr. Mount started to drone on about the importance of English literature. As soon as he had fixed himself into a comfortable position he tilted back on the two hind legs of his chair and placed his head on his best friend, Riku's, desk.

Riku had silver hair that sparkled in the sunlight, and aqua eyes that were as cold as ice but as captivating as a large flame. If Riku wasn't his best friend, Axel would have asked him out already, and Riku knew that perfectly well. Riku stared out the back window of the classroom. His hair was a bit wet from the water that Axel had thrown on him this morning. Axel closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep.

Riku scanned the beautiful scenery outside their school. _Jonathan Adam Whites Boys Academy for Higher Learning _the silver haired boy thought to himself. _A prestigious all boys boarding high school, entrance offered to only students with exceptional talents academically or athletically, or those wealthy enough. That is why it can reside on this island off the main land. That is why most of the students here completely pedigreed. That is why this school is no fun whatsoever._ Riku hated this school. _I shouldn't say that _he thought _I'm only a freshman therefore this being my first year I have nothing to base my hatred on._ Riku hated the fact that everyone here was insanely rich. _Though I shouldn't talk considering I'm rich as well _he thought. _I wish there was something that wouldn't make school as boring._ Then there it was.

Something drew Riku's attention away from the outdoor scenery of their school. It was a soft but confident knock at the door. Everyone stopped and looked as the door slid open. Of course this excluded Axel. Axel was content to stay in his dreams and not notice the world around him. Riku of course loved to pull him into reality. Shaking his head, the water droplets that clung to Riku's lengthy hair flew off and hit Axel square on the face. Axel opened his eyes just in time to see a new student enter the class room. The boy wore the standard school uniform; black flat-front pants, a blue collared button up shirt, a white sweater vest with the school crest, and black loafers. The boy's lilac hair was rather lengthy and he had side bangs that covered his left eye. He also wore large circular glasses. The boy had a messenger back slung across his shoulder. He handed a note to Mr. Mount. Mr. Mount nodded and turned to the class.

"Alright class, say hello to the new freshman Rei Dokushoka"

The class greeted the boy with a standard polite greeting. Rei bowed.

"Alright there's an empty seat beside Riku so go sit beside him." Mr. Mount ended.

Axel and Riku watched as Rei walked from the front of the class to the back and sat quietly beside Riku without even a glance.

Axel tilted his head back and stared into Riku's eyes. Riku nodded. Mr. Mount returned to talking to the class about the play Hamlet. Riku turned his head and stared out the window again. _This new student just might prove interesting. _Riku thought.

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**Alright so what did everyone think? I know that it wasn't much and you were all probably expecting the new kid to be Sora. That would be cool but I was wanting to put him in elsewhere in the story (or a continuation to this one if it's good enough, cause you know Sora's always with Riku but there's that age difference so if Riku was going to school he would be a year older and since Riku's a freshman here Sora would have to be a freshman next year) so just bear with the concept of him not being the main character for once**

**Sora: What!?!? I'm not the main character! But look at me! I'm the epitome of cute bishounen awesomeness!**

**So since that just seemed like it wasn't enough hope you enjoy the rest of this chapter.**

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"Riku wait up man!" Axel yelled as he chased after his friend. First period bell had rung shortly after Rei came to class and second period was now over. Luckily it was third period lunch.

"Dear Jesus you walk fast!" Axel said panting as he placed his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Why'd you rush to get to the caf? I mean the food's good but they always…"

"Axel I found out something terrible and we should just get in line for lunch and get lost in the crowd before –"

"RIKU! " An older teenage boy yelled. The older boy viciously hugged Riku who (although average height) seemed like a doll in the older boys arms.

" – see, this is what I was trying to avoid." Riku said prying himself away from the older boy. He stood back and took a good look at his attacker. The older teen had long flowing silver hair, and bright aquamarine eyes. He had left his white button up shirt open and had pushed up the sleeves to his elbows. His black flat front pants and his white tennis shoes topped off his look. The teen standing in front of him looked like an older version of Riku.

" 'Sup coz?" The older teen said flashing a million dollar smile. Riku sighed.

"Why are you stalking me Sephiroth?" Riku mumbled.

"Come on! Can't a cousin who's an upper classman be worried about how his freshman cousin is adapting to his second week at school?" Sephiroth said with a fake pout.

"Not unless he's trying to warn said freshman about something terrible. Say the types of evil deeds the upper classmen will use to torture us?" Axel responded.

"True that would cause a great deal of worry wouldn't it?" Sephiroth started. "But that was a rhetorical question."

Riku tuned out the rest of the conversation that went on between Sephiroth and Axel. He heard a loud shout coming from the direction of a well known senior's table.

"Yeah be right there!" Sephiroth yelled in response. IT surprised Riku how Sephiroth, while only being a junior, was still so popular, even among seniors.

"Anyway I got to go. See ya later guys." He turned to walk away but stopped. "Remember Riku, I'm your cousin. If you need anything just let me know." Without waiting for a response Sephiroth walked off. Riku made a mental note of that before walking to the line. Axel followed his best friend casually.

"Hey, he's cooler than any of my cousins and that's all I have to say about that." Axel stated.

_That's right. _Riku thought. _Axel told me about some of his cousins. They're all either a CEO of some large company, or a partner in a law firm. I guess that's what they want Axel to become as well. _Riku turned to look at his friend who was picking up three different slices of pizza._ Though, I can never see any of those jobs working out for him. _

Riku paid for his lunch and walked off to find a table. The tables were usually empty during third period lunch. He scanned the room for a table and found an empty one at the back far away from the regular cafeteria noise. He motioned for Axel to go in and secure the table. Axel nodded and ran to claim the table before anyone else could. Riku casually walked and sat down facing towards his best friend and room mate. He looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and then he noticed the new kid. The boy with the lilac hair and the large glasses sat alone. Rei had his nose in a book and only a bottle of Sprite for lunch. Axel cocked an eyebrow as he looked from Riku to Rei.

"Something about the new kid that interests you?" Axel said taking a gulp of his apple juice.

"Dunno. He just seems different Axe." Riku said. His voice sounded distant, like he was lost in thought. Axel laughed _Riku's always lost in his own head _the red haired boy thought. _And since when did he start calling me Axe?_

"Different how Riks?" Axel said. He polished off the last of his pizza. Riku turned and looked into Axel's emerald green eyes.

"Dunno." Riku said with a shrug. "He seems like he's hiding something…"

"Yeah! Like maybe, he's an alien! And the mother ship sent him here so that he can gather information on boys from Earth so they can secretly send in people who aren't people but alien invaders in disguise! And he doesn't want to talk to anyone because then he might say something that will blow his cover! And then if someone figures it out he would have to abduct them! And the armada will perform evil experiments and make the human subject into a half cow quarter bichon frise quarter human! Like a terrible crossbreed! That would be so cool!" Axel stopped.

"Axel what's today's date?" Riku asked.

"September 12th. Why?" Axel responded.

"When's your birthday?" Riku said picking a fry up from his lunch and popping it in his mouth.

"October 13th. Got it memorized?" Axel said

"I think I now know exactly what to get you for your birthday" Riku said.

"An alien cow baby! OH Riku I've always wanted one of those! I swear that I'll love it unconditionally even if it is a freak! And I'll raise it to benefit all of man kind! It could become like an inter-planetary diplomat! Oh thank you Riku! Thank you!" Axel said jumping out of his seat and running over to give Riku a hug.

"What…the…hell…" Riku said. He slapped Axel on the back of his head. "No more sci-fi movies for you" Axel rubbed the back of his head.

"Fine then what do you suppose it is that Rei is hiding Mr. Smarty Pants" Axel said.

"How am I supposed to know? I mean seriously!" He said loudly. He grabbed Axel's head and brought it closer to the table.

"But whatever it is we're going to find out." He whispered to his friend.

"Understood boss!" Axel said throwing his head up and saluting Riku. Just then the warning bell rang. Everyone hustled to get to their next class.

"Alright Axe, today we gather information. Regroup tonight and come up with the plan." Riku said. Axel nodded.

"Synchronize cell phones." Riku said pulling out his brand new black Motorola Razr. Axel pulled out his favourite black Nokia N93.

"Let's do this." Axel said. Riku looked at Axel's phone.

"Cool phone. Doubles as a camera?" Riku asked.

"Hells yeah!" Axel yelled petting his phone. "It's new and I love it! I can make movies with this thing!" Axel turned on the video function and started to film Riku.

"Damn, I was going to get you a video camera for your birthday but since you have one. I wonder where I can find an alien cow baby." Riku said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Oh Riku! You really do love me!" Axel said shoving the camera in the silver haired boys face.

"Shut up and get to class Axel. The teachers don't want to have to live through another one of you explanations." Riku said walking off to his Ancient Civilizations class. Axel smiled and turned his camera to face him.

"And so starts our adventure into the world of paranormal. This is Axel signing off!" he said as he stopped filming and carefully put away his phone. He took a sip of his apple juice in the tranquility of the empty lunch room before he realized the time.

"HOLY CRAP I'M GOING TO BE LATE!"

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**So there ends the first chapter of the saga. Anyway tell me what you think, I don't really care if people flame it because flames are what help to make a story better and different. But I do appreciate reviews that go "Great story update soon!" as well. Anyway yes… I've kidnapped Sora until a later story. Oh I also wanted to know whether it seemed a little rushed and if there weren't enough characters introduced or too many to early. Though I am going to be adding a hell load of characters in the next few chapters. There's going to be a mob!**

**Anyway KEC signing off**

**(O.o)(O.O)(o.O)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone who is reading this. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed or alerted this fic. Or just those who were like 'Meh. I have nothing better to do with my time might as well see how this turns out.' Anyway since for me this is a break while I have insane writers block about the million other fics which I'm desperately trying to update. Also I realized that I forgot the disclaimer. So let's start this thing.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Kingdom Hearts or any of it's characters though the places mentioned in this fanfiction are completely mine to tamper with as is the character Rei Dokushoka**

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Axel sighed as he threw himself onto his small bed. He stared at the ceiling. _I hate information gathering _he thought. Looking around he found a small neon green tennis ball lying on the floor of his dorm. Reaching his hand over the side of his bed he grabbed it. He threw it at the door and caught it as it bounced back to him. He fell into the rhythmical pattern. Throw and catch, throw and catch. _Today was just as boring as that English assignment. Seriously, I'm never going to let Riku ever talk me into collecting information again. Stupid new kid, not talking to anyone, what a prick. Do you wonder whether or not he realizes how much trouble he's putting me through! Hard enough collecting information since I'm a fucking freshman. Did I just swear in my head? Am I asking myself rhetorical questions? Sweet._

Axel smirked; he turned his head to look at Riku's digital alarm clock. _5:30 pm eh? Riku should be back soon since dinner's at 6. We should be able to get some more information from Sephiroth there._ Axel listened to the THWAP sound the tennis ball made against the wood door. If there was one thing Axel appreciated about his school it was the fact that they had a communal dinner. It lasted from 6 to 8, but anyone from any grade was welcome to show up and eat together. It wasn't so much the fact that everyone could eat together which excited Axel. It was more the chance to watch Sephiroth torture Riku with his desire to be friends with his cousin. Axel was so wrapped up in his fantasies of how Sephiroth would attack Riku next that he didn't notice the doorknob twist. The red head caught the ball and threw it without a second thought when.

THWACK!

"Holy Fu – "

Axel scrambled into an upright position and watched as the small hard neon green tennis ball fell to the floor with a light thud. He looked from the ball to its victim. Riku's aqua eyes seemed to be burning with an intensely cold fire. Axel was frozen in his place from just making contact with them. Riku slammed the door shut and stomped into the room.

"H-hey man, sorry about the whole ball in the face thing…" Axel managed to say. Riku seemed to not notice. The silver haired boy threw his book bag against his wall and jumped onto his bed. Axel watched as his room mate flipped onto his stomach and screamed into his pillow. Axel's mouth began to twitch.

"I take it you had a rough day…" the red head said not expecting an answer.

"Nobody knew anything about that god damn new kid and as if that wasn't enough I was stopped in the hall by this asshole kid who wanted me to join some kind of committee and then I was attacked by Sephiroth in the middle of the hall" Riku continued to rant as Axel listened intently.

"Well if it helps I used some of my amazing powers to get a little information about the new kid" at these words Riku seemed to lose his anger. He looked at Axel and stayed quiet. The two stayed quiet for a while.

"Are you going to tell me?" Riku asked after 10 minutes of their silence.

"Oh…yeah sure but only on two conditions" Axel said snapping back to reality.

"Depends? I'm not going to chew off my right arm, or star in a sci-fi movie which you wrote" Riku said.

"Great cause I never wrote it!" Axel said with a grin. Riku glared at him. "God Riku you really have to get a sense of humour or that new kid will never want to be friends with you"

"Whatever. Now what are these two conditions" Riku said.

"Alrighty! Condition numero uno" Axel said in a terrible Spanish accent. "You come with me to the caf for dinner, I'm fucking starving here waiting for you!" Riku cocked an eyebrow.

"Why didn't you just go yourself?" he asked. Axel looked shocked at this.

"And risk looking like the loser with no friends who has to come to the cafeteria by himself and sit alone in a corner talking to nobody and babbling on about something stupid that no living person on this earth cares about left to turn into a bitter old man with a hatred for children! I think not!" Axel yelled.

"Seriously how can you say so much at one time?" Riku wondered out loud.

"I'll let you in on my secret one day" Axel said with a wink. "Anyway condition deux" he said in a French accent this time. "I tell you while we're walking to the caf, since you know dinner has already started!" Axel had already bolted off his bed and was waiting at the door. Riku quickly followed him. They left their room quietly and locked the door.

"So, since I'm agreeing to your terms tell me everything you've found out" Riku said while he walked briskly. Axel slowed his pace. Riku slowed down to let his best friend catch up.

"Well where to start…um…let's see" Axel paused while scanning his memory. "Rei attended Mouruichi Junior School, from the rumours flying around it's said that he is like a super genius who's GPA is 99.9, they say that it would be a hundred but the teachers weren't allowed to grade him as such because that would mean that he was perfect and didn't need to attend school"

"Anything else?" Riku asked interested.

"Well, I asked some of the freshmen who went to Mouruichi, but first off let me tell you that there aren't a lot of them! Probably like 2 or 3 tops out of the entire freshmen year. That place is pretty far away from here. Anyway they say that they don't remember him at all and I guess that means that he wasn't that popular. Everyone in his class says that he barely participates and that his nose always seems to be buried into a book. People say that he's some special case that the headmaster wanted so that we could show him off. But apparently he demanded that he had his own private room with an on site bathroom shower and all. Nobody really knows anything beyond that though. Wonder why? Usually the whole school knows everything about any new student. Never really looked into this much, but it seems that since he doesn't talk to anyone everyone is too afraid to talk to him. Maybe we should just stay clear too eh Riks?" Axel said. The red head hadn't noticed it but the pair had some how ended up in the cafeteria with their food in their trays. Axel looked at their regular table at the back.

"Damn someone took our table Riks" Axel said. He looked at his friend who smirked.

"Hmmm…maybe we should go and tell that new kid that our table is off limits" Riku said looking at Axel. Axel frowned. "Of course he's welcome to stay should he choose to put up with us"

"I don't know Riku, what are you planning?" Axel enquired.

Riku gave Axel a goofy grin. "Why nothing but trying to befriend the poor shy new student" And with that Riku started to walk off to the table in the back corner.

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Riku dropped his tray onto the rectangular table. He took a seat beside Rei Dokushoka. Axel timidly followed suit. The red head carefully lowered his tray onto the table and sat across from Rei and Riku. As Riku watched Rei seemed unconcerned with the fact that two strangers had decided to invade his personal space. _I guess that this guy will be tougher to crack than I thought._ Riku looked over at the book Rei was reading. _Vampire Beach? _Riku paused a minute. Looking Rei once over the boy with the lilac hair and round glasses never seemed the type to be reading a vampire book. He seemed more like the type to be reading a book on Quantum Physics and the Euclid Theory. _Well if I want to find out more about this kid then I guess I'll need to get closer to him._

"Hey, my name's Riku. You're Rei right?" Riku said turning to the boy he sat beside. The lilac haired boy flashed his visible eye towards Riku. Riku was a little taken aback by the boy's eyes. Though it was probably overlooked because of the boys large round glasses and the fact that his bangs covered half of his face, the boy's eyes were large and held a deep crimson colour. They were dark, mysterious, and seemed to hold all the knowledge of the world.

Seeing Riku falter Axel immediately covered enough for his friend to regain his composure. A simple introduction, though with one of Axel's infamous stories it became long and complicated. Riku faked a cough. Axel stopped and smiled.

"Robitussin!" Axel shouted.

"Thanks…" Riku responded.

Axel went back to eating his dinner of a cheeseburger. Riku picked up a fry from his poutine. Popping it in his mouth he looked at Rei. Rei had gone back to reading his novel; occasionally he would take a swig from his bottle of Sprite. _I can use this as an opportunity _Riku thought.

"Hey Rei, how come you're not eating?" Riku asked.

"I'm not hungry." Rei answered politely though his gaze never left the page.

"We saw you at lunch you weren't eating anything then either. Aren't you gonna…you know…die?" Axel blurted out. Rei stopped reading. He took out a small black bookmark and placed it at his spot. _Crap what if he decides to leave?! Oh my god Axel I swear if he does I will kill you personally! _Riku thought. He waited to see what Rei would do. Rei didn't move he just casually put his book down and looked straight at Axel.

"And why would I die?" Rei said in a nonchalant tone. It took a minute for Axel to understand the situation before he could respond.

"Um…well…you know…starvation?" he said timidly. Rei continued to look at the red headed boy. Axel seemed to shrink. Hunching himself over his tray, Axel took another bite out of his cheeseburger.

Riku was stunned. He had never seen Axel like this. Axel, the boy who was always chastised for being loud and talkative; the boy who adapted to every social situation because he was loved by everyone; the boy who always seemed so confident, eager to take on any challenge that life could throw at him, was shying away from talking to this guy? _This guy is probably using some type of advanced black magic to petrify Axel in order to reduce his friendship meter. _Riku mentally cocked an eyebrow. _Mental note: Never talk like Axel again. _Riku snapped back to the scene. Rei seeming thoroughly distracted from his reading was casually sipping his Sprite, while Axel was still nibbling on the patty of the cheeseburger.

"Well you could just collapse one day. Get all dizzy from hunger and then next thing you know the room starts spinning then you end up in hospital with a lot of people chastising you about not eating" Riku said without thinking. Rei smirked. The lilac haired boy turned to face the silver haired boy sitting next to him.

"Sounds like you talk from experience…um…sorry what was your name again?" Rei asked.

"Riku" Riku answered nervously. _I'd prefer not to talk about my past…_he thought.

"Riku…" Rei repeated. "It seems like I struck a nerve. Well I stick by my earlier statement, but it's not my place to intrude on your personal life. Though I thank you for caring I would hope that you not bother about me"

Riku watched silently as Rei picked up his book, carefully removing the bookmark, and returned to reading. Riku mentally kicked himself. _If I really want to find out about this one then I shouldn't let anything get in my way! _He thought angrily. _Especially me…_he added. He grabbed another fry and chewed at it angrily. He sat for a minute trying to formulate a new plan. As he reached hastily for another fry he felt a firm hand grab his wrist. He looked up, ready to give an icy glare to the one who had stopped him from claiming his prize of potato, melted cheese, and curd.

"I know that you're hungry but the poutine isn't going anywhere" Sephiroth said firmly. Riku scoffed. The younger of the silver haired cousins turned his head away, flipping his hair. Slightly annoyed, Sephiroth squeezed Riku's wrist.

"I don't want to have to visit you in hospital again, so eat slowly and chew understood?" he said seriously. Riku scrunched up his face.

"Whatever." Riku responded. Sephiroth lightly patted Riku's head before sitting down. Axel looked up from his tray to give Sephiroth some acknowledgement. The older boy nodded to the red head.

"So what's up? I've never seen Axel this quiet" Sephiroth said poking Axel's forehead. Axel rubbed the point where Sephiroth had poked him.

"If that bruises I'm going to hunt you down to make you get me a band-aid" Axel stated. There was a snort from beside Riku. The three boys turned to see Rei who had been quiet since Sephiroth's arrival. Sephiroth grabbed Riku's head unexpectedly.

"Who's that?" Sephiroth said inclining his head towards Rei.

"New kid" Riku said as he finished chewing the fry Sephiroth had stopped him from gormandizing. He swallowed. "His name's Rei Dokushoka just transferred here from who-knows-where." Sephiroth nodded as though he had just learnt some valuable information worth remembering.

"Hey Seph, mind if we crash the party?" a languid voice said setting a tray down on the table. Riku looked up to see two students taking their seats on either side of Axel. One was a tall brunette with fairly long hair; he had a scar that ran across his face from right to left. He wore a white polo shirt and white tennis shoes with the standard pants. The other was an equally as tall student with blond gravity defying hair. The blonde's eyes had an eerie yet enticing glow.

"So this is your cousin and his friends? You two look similar" the blond said coolly. The two students picked up their slices of pepperoni pizza and bit into the crust simultaneously. Sephiroth snickered.

"Riku these two morons are Cloud and Squall"

"Leon" the brunette interjected.

"– yeah…whatever. So the blond is Cloud and the brunette is Leon. They're sophomores here. I met them in my sophomore year and thought they were adorable." Sephiroth told his cousin. Leon and Cloud snorted.

"More like Cloud had a major crush on your cousin there" Leon said. At this Axel couldn't help but return to his normal prodding, annoying self.

"Please do tell!" Axel said propping his elbows onto the table and resting his chin on his folded hands. The red head batted his eye lids in an attempt to get Leon to talk more. The brunette opened his mouth to divulge the story when Cloud cut him off.

"That's another tale for another time" Cloud said shoving his half eaten pizza into Leon's mouth.

"And I expect to hear it at another time!" Axel said with a wink.

"Anyway guys, this is my cousin Riku, his best friend Axel, and his other friend Rei" Sephiroth said pointing each of them out. Rei looked up surprised, as if hearing the words 'friend' and 'Rei' in the same phrase was a new experience. 5 minutes of idle small talk occurred between Sephiroth, Cloud, Leon, and Axel before Cloud finally decided to end it. Cloud had looked at his empty tray and then his watch.

"Damn it all…" he said with a yawn. "I have to go. Decided to take an Art Appreciation class as my elective see? And now I have to go and research some dead guy I never heard of" he fished around in his pant pockets and produced a small rectangular slip of paper. "Guy's name is Vincent Van Goh…anyone ever heard of him?" Cloud looked around hopefully. Everyone around the table shrugged before they heard Rei talking.

"Vincent Van Goh: Born in Holland 1883, mostly worked with postimpressionist style. His two famous paintings are 'The Starry Night' and 'Wheatfield with Crows'. He was normally a depressed man. He cut off part of his own ear following a fight with another artist, then painted 'Wheatfield with Crows' before shooting himself."

The whole table turned to stare at the boy with the book. Rei seemed strangely calm with the fact that he was able to recite a synopsis on a dead painter who many average high school boys would never have known existed. Rei went to pick up his empty Sprite bottle and sighed feeling that it was empty. Cloud finally getting over his initial shock sat back down. He grabbed Rei's hand and shook it violently.

"Hi, my name is Cloud Strife. I don't care whether you're human or a super computer sent to this world to gather every scrap of data we possess, but if you can help with my homework you're my new best friend…" Cloud paused as Rei tensed hearing the word 'friend' again but quickly calmed down.

"Now I'll buy you a drink if you just repeat everything you just said slow enough for me to copy down." At the prospect of a drink Rei automatically shoved his bookmark into place and dropped the book onto his lap.

"Get me a bottle of Sprite instead of a can and I'll even write everything I just said for you" Rei responded.

"Deal!" Cloud yelled. The blond sophomore jumped up and ran to the cafeteria's counter before the lady could close the register. Riku turned to look at Rei who had already started writing out the paragraph onto a large blue cue card in large print. In less than 2 minutes Cloud had returned with the bottle of Sprite. Rei handed him the large blue cue card and grabbed the drink out of his hands. Quickly unscrewing the cap, Rei gulped down a quarter of the bottle. Throwing his head back he smiled. He thanked Cloud who proclaimed that he would gladly do it anytime as long as Rei would give him information so he didn't have to waste time researching.

"So since I now don't have any work who wants to come to our dorm to play Halo? Everyone at this table is invited!" Cloud yelled loudly. Axel looked at Leon.

"You two share a dorm?" he asked the brunette.

"Unfortunately…"Leon sighed. Cloud who was ecstatic since he was now free to party decided to add his two cents.

"Of course we're roomies! Otherwise where would I get another XBOX to hook up with? Huh? Playing online is cool and all but the damn newbies always with the sniping"

Riku looked at Sephiroth who had been quiet for too long to possibly have still been alive. Looking into the glazed over bright green eyes, Sephiroth looked as though he had fallen asleep with his eyes open. Riku looked back and turned away just in time to avoid actually hearing a part of the conversation of Cloud, Axel, and Leon which had suddenly turned to female gamers, or lack there of. Lastly there was Rei.

"So are you gonna go to Cloud's?" Riku asked. Rei blinked rapidly as though unable to believe that after everything that just happened at dinner Riku was still trying to talk to him. Rei sighed and removed his glasses. He ran his hand through his lilac hair.

"You're never going to leave me alone are you?" he asked. He looked at Riku with his large crimson eyes and Riku gulped. _It's going to take a bit to get used to those eyes _he thought to himself.

"Not until you me and Axel become the Three Musketeers" Riku said.

"Okay two things;" Rei said. Riku tilted his head. "One, that was possibly the most clichéd thing that I've ever heard" Riku stuck out his tongue at this. "Two, what you just said might take a long time to happen."

"Which is why we should start now" Riku said.

"Hey are you two coming! Seriously guys they're closing down the caf!" Cloud yelled from the entrance to the cafeteria. Riku spun around looked at the four guys standing at the doorway. Turn back to face Rei, Riku outstretched his hand.

"Coming?" he inquired. Pushing his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose Rei grabbed Riku's hand and stood up.

"Let's get going then" Riku said calmly as they walked towards the group.

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**So what does everyone think? Is the story moving too fast? Too many characters right now? Are Sephiroth's eyes not green? Review and tell me please. Anyway since this is just something to keep my mind off thinking for new things for my other fics this will keep going at this pace regardless of whether I get 1 review of 30 reviews(but please don't let that discourage you from leaving a review) !! Oh I also wanted to know whether I should add a short little filler chapter about the six of them playing Halo at Cloud and Leon's. **

**Kay Laterz!**

** KEC**

**(O.o)(O.O)(o.O)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys…and girls…people, zombies, vampires, werewolves, ghouls, ghosts, poltergeists, cheese, dogs, demons, dog demons, etc… who are reading this. So since I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do with the next real chapter and I've got to update and work in some things with my other fics. Anyway someone remind me to never start a new fanfiction when I have writers block for one of my previous ones… Anyway on with the filler!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or it's copyrighted characters, though I do own a copy of the games () But then most people reading this probably do to.**

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"Welcome to Chateau de Cloud!" the spiky blond haired sophomore, Cloud Strife, yelled as he threw the door to his dorm room open.

"Ahem…" Leon, the brunet with the large scar across his face, responded. He gave Cloud a strange look that seemed to say something between _Forget-something-idiot? a_nd _One-day-I'm-gonna-lock-you-outside-and-the-room-will-be-mine._

"Fine…" Cloud said with a pout. Cloud closed the door and took in a deep breath. Throwing the door open once again he yelled enthusiastically

"Welcome to Chateau de Cloud et Leon !"

Leon smirked as he entered his dorm room. Surveying the room he finally saw what he was looking for. Walking over he took a seat on a large midnight blue swivel chair. Sephiroth strode in casually. The eldest of the boys plopped himself onto one of the beds in the room. Next to enter was Axel. The red head stared at the room with bulging eyes. Axel turned his head to examine the whole room.

There were two beds, one at either end of the room. The bed on the left side was properly made and well kept, quite the contrary of the bed on the right side of the room, which lay unmade, pillows askew, and a rather large plush teddy bear lay on its stomach at the foot of the bed. There was a large window in the middle of the back wall. The window overlooked the entrance way to the school, it was one of the more scenic landscapes and it seemed as though Leon and Cloud were lucky to have it, since the seniors were always given the privilege of the more scenic views. To the left of the window sat a large curved computer desk, a silver flat screen LCD monitor and large silver tower were hidden in a small cavern. A printer rested up on its own shelf on the desk, a few papers and a pencil holder also had their own place on this organized side of the room.

The right side however was a different story. A rectangular desk sat awkwardly against the back wall. Sitting, angled to face the left side of the room, was a sleek black lap top. A variety of things were thrown across this desk. On the opposite wall of the room, a large screen T.V. was hooked up to not one, but two Xbox 360's.

"This…place…is…so…awesome!" Axel squealed excitedly before running inside and plopping himself on the floor in front of Leon's chair. Riku who was still standing in the doorway looked at Rei. _Better make sure he doesn't escape _Riku thought. Riku caught a glance at Rei's eyes which looked as though they were calculating exactly the proper way to escape. _I should try to break his concentration_ Riku thought to himself. The silver haired boy cleared his throat loudly. Rei blinked a few times looking around for the source of the noise which interrupted his thoughts. Riku smiled.

"After you," he said courteously. He twirled his hands motioning the boy inside. Reluctantly Rei entered the room and found a seat next to Axel on the floor. Riku sat on the other side of the lilac haired boy.

"So…"Rei said drawing out the syllable. "What game are we playing?" he asked coolly.

Everyone turned to look at the lilac haired boy who spoke. Axel and Cloud were unable to hide their surprise that the he was talking without being forced into it. Sephiroth remained quiet but slightly intrigued, and the enigma that is Leon seemed stoic though his eyes told differently.

"Ugh…Halo?" Cloud said stumbling over his own words. The blond boy turned around and started to pick through a mess of games.

"That is if he can find it" Leon added.

Sephiroth chuckled. "You should learn to be properly organized Cloud" he started. "One day you might get lost in this mess"

Axel snorted. "Or eaten." The red head said. Axel's emerald green eyes sparkled happily as he continued. "I can see it now…"

"Here we go again" Riku whispered to Rei. Riku watched with amazement and a sense of pride as Rei squeezed his eyes shut and bit his lip to contain his laughter. _Excellent _Riku thought _I'm finally getting this guy to loosen up._

" – and then the pants would be all like 'You have worn us for the last time! Now we shall wear you!' and then Cloud would be all like 'Agh! Leon save me!' and then"

"I think that being unorganized is hereditary" Cloud interrupted. "Found it" he added pulling the case out from the pile.

"See…" he said popping the case open and taking out the disc "My Dad was always messy and my Mom would always yell at him to pick up his stuff"

Cloud closed the disc tray on the Xbox and then searched around for controllers.

"When I was little I was always messy, still am, when I turned 13 my Mom said that she didn't care anymore and that I would organize and clean my own room"

Cloud turned and started passing out the controllers. "Then my little brothers came along."

"How come you never said anything about your bros?" Axel said not seeming to care that he was interrupted anymore.

"Nobody ever asked" Cloud said. "Anyway they're twins, Roxas and Sora. Yeah Sora's messy like me and Dad but Roxas is Mom's pride and joy. Efverything has to be neat and clean; he has to fold his clothes in a specific way and has to do everything in a specific order."

Riku looked around. With everyone so engrossed in Cloud's story nobody seemed to realize that they were all set to play. Cloud pushed the little power button on the system and turned around.

"Hey Riku, Axel, Rei" Cloud said taking a seat on his messy bed. "Hope you can roll with the big dogs 'cause I own at this game" He grinned.

"Riku and I can handle ourselves!" Axel retorted. "But you should be worried for Rei I highly doubt that a guy who spends every waking minute reading can be nothing more than a noob" Axel ended with a wink as they started the match.

Out of the corner of his eye Riku saw a vein at Rei's temple throb. The scene was so perfect, that is he hadn't been seriously worried for what Rei would do to Axel if that vein burst, he would laugh.

"Let's do this" Rei whispered to nobody in general.

5 minutes into the game and Rei had already taken out Axel. The loud red head was stunned as he waited for his character to respawn.

"Now what was that comment about me being a noob?" the boy with glasses said while playfully elbowing Axel. It took a minute for Axel to fix his jaw which had dropped.

"Psh." He said with confidence. "Beginners luck,"

There was a sound of open fire and then Cloud's screen shifted to his character dropping to the floor.

"I suppose that taking out Cloud's character was luck too?" Rei answered smartly.

"Of course" Axel replied happily seeing as he wasn't the only person killed by Rei. Riku noticed Rei's crimson eyes burning as he glared at Axel. It seemed that Riku was taking to long watching the intensity of Rei's eyes because when he turned back to the screen he noticed that his section was showing the counter waiting for respawn. Rei growled at Axel as the red head stole the Warthog which Rei was trying to get, though Rei seemed to know what to do. Riku watched closely as Rei threw a grenade and fragged Axel. Leaving the Warthog Rei decided to help Cloud decimate an unsuspecting Leon. Turning his attention back to his section of the screen Riku noticed that the respawn counter had reset.

"Seriously Riku if I knew you sucked at Halo so much I would have got you an Xbox to practice with." Sephiroth said smugly.

"That's so not fair! I wasn't even paying attention!" Riku yelled at his cousin.

"Not fair?" Rei said. Riku turned and saw that the boy's eyes had not moved from his section of the screen. "This is Halo, it's basically every man for himself. There is no such thing as being unfair. If you're to busy with real life to pay attention to your screen you're going to get fragged by someone who is paying attention."

"Fine," Riku said scrunching up his face. "Since everybody seems to think that I suck I quit playing!" Riku threw his controller down on the floor. Crossing his arms over his chest he huffed.

"Noob" Axel said.

"Baby" Rei added.

"Whiner" Sephiroth continued.

"Quitter" Leon responded.

"Loser" Cloud chimed in.

"Shut up." Riku retorted. Putting his hand to his stomach he felt a slight rumble. Then the loud growl was heard. _Hopefully nobody noticed _Riku though. Looking up he saw Sephiroth stare at him.

"Hungry Riku?" the older silver haired boy asked. Everyone seemed to stoip the game and look at the cousins. Cloud suddenly snapped out of his daze and did his part as a host.

"We have some Tostitos and salsa if you guys want I'll just get it"

There was a small mumble coming from Axel and Rei as if they were discussing it. But it seemed that everyone agreed. Cloud bounced up and headed over to his closet. Opening the door he revealed a small black fridge.

"Whoa" Axel started. "Can we get one of those!" he yelled turning to Riku.

"No." Riku said flatly.

Cloud opened the small fridge which was filled with junk food and soda cans.

"Anyone want anything to drink?" he asked.

"Pass me a Pepsi" Leon said. Cloud threw a blue can at Leon's head. The brunet caught the can before it hit his head. Placing it on his desk Leon tapped the top with two fingers a few times before opening it and taking a swig.

"Coke for me" Sephiroth yelled. Cloud threw a red can this time at Sephiroth who caught it with ease. Opening the can it bubbled and almost spilled on him if Sephiroth hadn't been quick enough to drink the over flow. Axel turned to Leon and cocked his head.

"How come yours didn't fizz?" he asked confused.

"I tapped it." Leon responded. Axel just continued to look at him confused. Leon sighed. "Don't ask how it works I have no clue. Just trust that it does." Axel shrugged.

"Have any orange Crush?" Axel said to Cloud who in turn tossed an orange can at Axel who almost missed the catch. Fumbling with the can he was positive that it would over flow if he opened it. Cautiously he tapped the top, squeezing his eyes shut and holding the can away from him and over Rei he opened it. There was a small fizz but nothing over flowed.

"That's amazing!" Axel screamed enthusiastically. He gulped down a large portion of his pop.

"Right…anyone else?" Cloud asked.

"I'll have a Sprite please" Rei said. Cloud threw the green and blue tin at Rei who caught the can then fumbled and dropped it.

"Skilled at Halo but can't even hold a soda can?" Riku said mockingly.

"Shut up, I prefer drinking from a bottle" Rei said tapping the can a few times before slowly opening it.

"Riku!" Cloud yelled. Riku looked at the blond. "Do you want a drink?"

Blinking a few times Riku starred into space. Cloud raised an eyebrow.

"Hey Axel, is he going to be okay?" Cloud asked. Axel took his lips away from the cold metal of his soda can. He sighed contently and then let out a loud burp. Rei laughed at the sudden noise. Axel smirked and then looked from Cloud to Riku.

"Yeah," he responded. "Riku's a thinker, or procrastinator. See I have this theory that if he were starving in a desert and some guy came with an extra large pizza and 2 dozens cans of pop he wouldn't even talk to the guy without a life times worth of contemplation." Axel looked up at his best friend. "Ain't that right Riks?"

"Well how do you know whether that guy isn't some cannibal who's trying to fatten you up before he can eat you! I mean seriously Axe, the chance that there is going to be some kind of drug in the pizza or pop is monumental" Riku said defensively. He didn't like anyone talking about his eating habits, every time someone did something bad happened to him.

"Paranoid much?" Rei said looking straight into Riku's eyes. Riku didn't dare break the eye contact. Axel snorted.

"Dude," the red head started. "You sounded like such a girl just then" Rei broke his stare with Riku and glared at Axel for the nth time that night.

"Sound like a girl?" he said sounding offended. "Firstly that is the tenth most retarded thing that I have heard in my whole life! It lies somewhere between 'Do they speak Sri Lankan in Sri Lanka?' and 'I never knew girls can play video games?' It's something that stereotypes like yourself say in order to preserve your small mentality in which there are clichés for both males and females to live up to"

"Okay then…" Cloud said rolling his eyes as if hoping that he could just pretend that the little spat had never happened.

"Feminist?" Sephiroth asked poking Rei's head.

"Or girl in disguise?" Leon said miming Sephiroth.

"Only one way to find out" Axel started with a mischievous grin. "Halo Championship," he added. "Rei, I challenge you! Through the outcome of this tournament of champions we shall decide what exactly you are"

"Wha…what?" Rei said. His glasses dropped to the bridge of his nose. "That's com…completely…what?" Rei shook his head confused. Sephiroth cleared his throat loudly.

"We the spectators name Axel our male representative in this challenge of champions. At the end of this all we shall see how he judges you and live by that judgment"

"It's sacred code of the guys. Of course since you're a boy you probably already knew that. Right?" Axel added. He moved his head in close to Rei's. Their noses almost touching Axel's eyes malevolently bore into Rei's. Closing his pale eyelids over his large crimson eyes Rei regained his composure.

"Whatever." He said. "Let's do this."

Cloud started up their match. Axel bashed his fingers against the buttons quickly; he twisted and turned moving his controller all over. Rei on the other hand sat fairly still his small hands quietly but efficiently tapped the buttons on his controller. Watching round after round it was obvious that Rei was the superior player. Though Axel was doing well by shooting like crazy and occasionally throwing grenades, Rei would time his attacks. Using the environment of the battlefield he would lure the unsuspecting Axel into traps time after time. Slowly Axel became infuriated with Rei's constant winning streak. Rei seeming to quickly notice seemed to hold back on his smarter plans and would occasionally let Axel win by walking into the open and waiting for Axel to kill him.

"Are we done yet?" Rei asked. He pulled out a sleek black and silver cell phone. Looking at the digital time that flashed on the screen Rei sighed. "It's already 11:45. We've been playing Halo since 7 and you've been losing at this since 10." Riku and Cloud snickered.

"He does have a point though" Sephiroth said with a yawn. "We all still have class tomorrow." The silver haired junior stretched his arms above his head before he stood up. He extended his hand to Riku.

"Come on I'll walk the three of you freshmen back to your dorms" he said offering his hands to both Rei and Axel.

"Thanks Sephy" Axel said with a tired grin. His eyes were a little pink from being rubbed often throughout the night. Sephiroth pulled the red head up and waited for Rei's answer.

"I suppose that would be okay…" he said seriously. He took Sephiroth's hand and stood up. "But I warn you that I live quite far from here."

"That's okay so do we" Sephiroth said in response. Suddenly everyone heard a loud crack. They turned to see Leon cracking his knuckles.

"So Axel, verdict?" Leon said with a yawn.

"Feminist," Axel said after a long pause. "Or he's just crazy" After a few quick goodbyes Sephiroth, Riku, Axel, and Rei left the room and started their trek back to their dorms.

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**So guys what did you think? Strange that this filler is longer than the first chapter. Or at least it felt like it was. I like doing these little writey author note thingies. Since you know I don't have to use proper grammar. In fact I can speak the gooder English.**

**Riku: Just stop talking**

**Sephiroth: You sound like an idiot.**

**Rei: I'm an original character which you created. I'm supposed to worship the ground you walk on but I agree with these two.**

**KEC: Shut it guys.**

**Anyway, yeah…So if anyone thought that this filler was over already then never! Actually I keep calling it a filler but it might as well just be a chapter cause it acts the same. (Can a chapter act?) Oh well you know what I mean! …Or do you?**

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Axel yawned as the group reached the door to his and Riku's dorm. Looking over the group he said his final goodbyes for the night. He glanced one last time at Rei and proclaimed that he would beat the scrawny little lilac haired boy at Halo one day. Riku starred at his cousin and then at Rei.

"Got much farther to go?" he asked to the pair.

"Hey I'm all the way on the cool side of the building." Sephiroth started. "You know where all the seniors and juniors are."

"Riiiggghhht." Riku said exaggerating the word. "What about you?" he said turning his attention on Rei.

"I'm around this general area." He said. _He was silent throughout the walk to the dorms and now he's giving a vague concept of where his room is? Either he doesn't yet accept us all as friends, he's seriously thinking about something, or he's caught onto the fact that I think he's hiding some big secretey secret _Riku thought. He paused a minute. _Did I just think the phrase secretey secret? Weird…_

"Well I'm going to head to bed. G'night" Riku said walking inside the room. He heard the faint sounds of Sephiroth and Rei walking down the hall. He looked at Axel who had already dropped onto his bed, and was burying his face into a fluffy pillow. Walking over to his side of the room Riku sat on his bed.

"Hey Axel, what do you think?" he said falling onto his back and starring at the ceiling.

"Glraftrugiler?" Axel said into his pillow.

"What?" Riku said flipping onto his side to face Axel.

"I said about what?" the red head responded.

"I don't know, tonight in general, and how the plan is going, and if we can find anything else out about Rei" Riku said bouncing his thoughts off Axel.

"Tonight was fun. Don't know much about this plan. Oh and a person's room can reveal a lot about them." Axel said before throwing his comforter over his head.

"What?" Riku asked again. Axel groaned. He flipped over to face the silver haired boy.

"Look Riks if you're too stupid then I'll tutor you. But tomorrow, I'm tired right now." Axel waited for a response. Riku took in a deep breath. It was harder to convince a sleepy Axel than it was to convince a fully awake Axel. _Guess that I'll just have to try a little harder _Riku told himself.

"But Axel, I just wanted to know what you meant by the people and their rooms" he said in a cute voice. Riku pouted to finish the package, though he highly doubted that Axel would be able to see him through the darkness. There was another groan from the other side of the room.

"The way people decorate and keep their rooms are a reflection on their personality." Axel started. "You see, for example Cloud's room was messy but it did have certain things in order if you noticed. You can interpret this as Cloud being a little scatterbrained but the fact that his lap top had priority on his desk and that his closet were neat shows that ultimately he's reliable and is able to prioritize." Axel waited for Riku to absorb the information.

"Leon on the other hand is completely neat and organized, which I interpret as him being punctual, typical, and serious. He also seems to be the type to have a routine. Alternatively you could use this knowledge to gather information about people. For example if you looked closely enough you'd notice that Cloud has pictures of things that are important to his stuck to his desk or in frames which are standing on all surfaces, where as Leon doesn't. It makes it seem as though Leon is trying to let go of the past or something terrible that happened and he wants to forget. Lastly the fact that they both have Xboxes shows that they both enjoy leisure time. Savvy?"

Riku computed all this. _Wow, Axel's really observant…_

"So you mean that you can go into anyone's room and tell little things about their personality like that?" Riku inquired.

"Well, as long as the visit is a complete surprise and they haven't had a chance to clean or change anything from their normal routine." Axel said. "Now one last question and then I'm falling asleep."

"What do you want to be when you grow up?" Riku asked. Axel had been his best friend for a few years but he had never even thought of asking the loud, mouthy, imaginative, red head this question. _I always assumed that he'd want to be something like a director, or comic book illustrator. _

"What the hell?" Axel said. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked across the room straining his eyes to make out Riku's form lying on the bed. "We've known each other since we were 5 and you've never once asked me this question, why now?"

"I don't know. Just then…it seemed like you knew what you were talking about. I just thought…Maybe what you wanted to become had some influence on why you knew that." Riku said ashamed that he didn't know what his best friend wanted to be.

"A psychologist" Axel said quietly. "I've always wanted to be a psychologist and figure out how different people think and are who they are." He paused. "That's why I used to read all those big books back in elementary school you know? Hoping that it would get me a little closer to being one, but of course you know my dad. He wants me to be some business man…" Axel rolled over and closed his eyes trying to fall asleep. Riku looked over.

"Hey Axe," he started. "I think you'd make one hell of an awesome psychologist"

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**Sephiroth P.O.V.**

"You really don't have to walk me to my dorm room." The little lilac haired boy said timidly. I smiled.

"It's okay, I have to walk this way anyway." Alright I told a little white lie. My dorm was on the other side of the building. But hey, this kid, I mean Rei, could get in trouble if he was caught wandering the halls at night. At least if I'm here I could keep him out of trouble.

"I know that the senior and junior dorms are on the other side of the building" he said adjusting his glasses. Can he read my mind? Whatever.

"Hehe…" I faked a laugh. "So you caught me. Just wanted to make sure that one of Riku's little friends got back to his dorm safely"

"What? Think you're superman? Protector of all freshmen?" he said sarcastically. If it wasn't for that vow I took back in my freshmen year I would so have yelled at this kid. Guess it wouldn't hurt enlightening him on my vow though. Maybe he'd do the same thing, and then when he's a junior he'll turn around and help some freshmen who'll make the vow and then it will just keep living on. That would be so cool.

"Actually there is a story behind why I like to be nice to the freshmen unlike the rest of the juniors and seniors here." I said looking down at him. Man this kid was short. What, he must have been 5' 3"? 5' 4" at the most? I towered over him at a tall 6' 1"

"Really…" he said casually avoiding eye contact. Maybe I shouldn't tell him. But I guess I should ask.

"I could tell you if you care to listen" I said coolly. I leaned forward so I could look back at his face. His eyes were on the floor and he bit his bottom lip as he considered the offer.

"Yeah, I think I would like to hear the story please." He said politely. I think that was the nicest thing that I've ever heard this kid say. Maybe he wasn't bad, just rough around the edges…or something like that. I straightened up.

"See back when I was a freshmen I never really had a lot of friends like I do now." I started.

"You mean Cloud and Leon?" he interrupted. Well when you put it that way…

"I also have my friends who are close to my age." I said defensively. "Like Zach Fair, and ugh…Xehanort…and a bunch of other seniors…But that's not the point!"

I cleared my throat. For some strange reason I enjoy doing that along with monolouging. Yes it's a word that I coined to describe the process in which I monologue about a subject on which either I am knowledgeable or has no real significance but seems to annoy other people. Actually I have a real gift for monolouging. It seems as though I have strayed from the story though.

"Anyway, I was kind of shorter than the rest of the guys in my freshmen year. Though hardly any of them remember, except of course for the occasional jackasses. So I was the big loner who would sit in the corner and try not to attract attention to myself. I thought that my meaningless existence would just continue to drone on like Professor Ansem during his science lectures. Of course though someone did decide to befriend me in an unusual manner" I paused for dramatic effect.

"His name was Vincent Valentine…" I continued. "He was a senior back when I was a freshmen. He started to eat lunch and dinner with me everyday. He'd warn me about professors and classes. He was my first real friend. Once people started to see me hanging out with a senior I gained some instant popularity. But he was graduating and we started seeing less of each other. Or at least that's what I thought would happen. It seemed like he already knew that I was afraid that I was going to lose my first real friend at this school. So every Friday night we'd get together and play a video game, or see a movie. I never really figured out why he was always so nice to me. But that's when I made this vow to look out for the freshmen every year." Pretty cheesy story eh? Well it's the truth. The kid was silent for a while. Suddenly he spoke up in a solemn tone.

"You remind me of him in a weird way"

Needless to say I was taken aback. I mean firstly I just met this kid like a few hours ago, then all of a sudden I end up telling him one of the most personal things about me, and now he acts like he knows Vincent! God this was fruity…Yes I say fruity…At least using the word fruity synonymously for the word weird is better than using the word gay synonymously for the word stupid right?...Shut up that was a rhetorical question.

"You know Vincent?" I asked cautiously. Rei stopped walking. He turned to a door on his left. I surveyed the area and noticed that there weren't any doors on either side of his. He stuck his hand in his pocket searching for the key. Pulling out a small gold key he looked at me.

"Can you keep a secret?" he said in an oddly feminine voice. I always hated that voice; you know the ones that guys had before they hit puberty? It always seems so high and squeaky…Or maybe that's just because I'm so accustomed to hearing the voices of all the manly seniors. Yeah…whatever.

I nodded in response. Rei turned and shoved the key in the door. After a few minutes I heard the click of the door unlocking. I watched him walk inside then motion me in. Following his lead I went through the door. I heard the door close and lock but was to preoccupied looking around the 'dorm' that is if you could call it that.

"This place…" I said noticing that I wasn't even in the proper room yet. Instead I was in a short corridor outside the larger sitting area. Feeling compelled to, I removed my shoes before entering the sitting area.

"I needed some place private, and a little isolated from the rest of the students…" he said while removing his shoes. I noticed pictures around the empty spaces on the walls. There were a few of a tall man with large crimson eyes and short black hair with a small child with short lilac hair and large crimson eyes. Wait, was that? Vincent? And Rei? I turned to ask Rei but was caught up when I saw a more recent photo of Vincent and Rei. Vincent Valentine, his black hair was long and messy; it looked like he had just woken up. He was kneeling beside Rei, who seemed to be laughing at something that had just happened, or possibly Vincent's face as the older boy struggled to blow out a large number of candles that sat on top of a chocolate cake.

"So you do know Vincent Valentine…" I said with a chuckle. Even better reason for me to look out for this kid, and make sure that nothing bad happens to him.

"I know him better than most people…" he said walking towards me with a large brown leather like photo album. He flipped open to a photo and held the book up for me to see. My eyes grew wide at the sight of the picture. There was a little note beside it scrawled in Vincent's neat handwriting.

"See, I'm R-A Valentine. And I'm Vincent Valentine's…"

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**And I'm going to end it there. Seems like a cliffhanger though I probably will only let you know the rest of the sentence really late next chapter. Anyway it took me a while to update eh? By the way I hate rough copies, though it's a necessity for me to make a draft I always stray from my major story points and then chapters end up like this. And you know how it is when you just write it and you're like "Yeah that sounds cool!" and then you reread it after you post and are like "Ew…did I really write that?! How embarrassing!"**

**Anyway you probably won't hear from me for a little bit. Summer break is really awesome, I have parties to go to, plus I go camping a lot. CAMPING ROCKS! The best parts are smores and the camp fires. But see I have this weird thing where I can't roast a marshmallow otherwise I get sick when I eat it. Like I can hold it high over the fire for a nano second so it feels warm for a second but then goes cold again and I still get sick. So I basically spend the night watching my cousins eat smores and then pigging out on chocolate, raw marshmallows, and sprite or 7 up. Also I tend to get really moody when I go camping and I go crazy. Like this one time I was mad at my mom and then she invited these random people she just met to sit with us, and their son came over and he's my age and I was so angry that I just kept insulting him. I probably scarred that poor kid for life. I won't be surprised if in 10 years he tracks me down and explains how I ruined his life.**

**Anyway R&R please and thank you! Laterz!**

**(O.o)(O.O)(o.O)**

**KEC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Allo everyone. Sorry I said that I'd update sooner but things got out of hand, I started a new school this year so trying to keep up with the system is strange. Anyway this will possibly be the longest chapter to date for this fic. I'm actually still in the process of writing the rough while I'm typing and so far the rough is around 16 pages and I'm only probably ¼ ways done. Weird…anyway it will be all done by the time this posts. So on with the procrastination of my homework!**

**Disclaimer: I won nothing except the concept of the story and my original characters (though I am willing to lease them out like an iPhone)**

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Beep Beep Beep Beep!

"Blargle?" Riku mumbled groggily opening his eyes. He tossed around and tangled himself in his comforter.

Beep Beep Beep Beep!

Riku sat up and rubbed his eyes. Reaching over he turned off his alarm clock. With a large sigh Riku turned his gaze on Axel's sleeping form. A few strands of silver hair fell in front of his eyes. Brushing the strands away with the back of his hand Riku noticed the flashing number on his digital clock.

_6:30?_ He thought. Quietly he got up and made his bed. Looking over he noticed Axel still sleeping.

"God he better not dump a mug of water on me again…" Riku mumbled as he checked his homework due today and put it in his bag. He slid open the door to his closet. After rummaging through a few sheets and pillow cases he finally found what he was looking for. Pulling out a small transparent plastic bag filled with toiletries he set his efforts of pulling out a clean uniform. Gathering his things he quickly snuck out of the room and headed for the showers.

Looking around the large blue tiled bathroom Riku knew that he was alone. Turning on the tap of a sink he let the water flow, the sound breaking the dead silence.

He opened his toiletries bag and pulled out his toothbrush, a tube of toothpaste, and a small pink plastic cup. He squeezed the tube so that the toothpaste squirt directly onto his red coloured toothbrush.

_Alright Riku, _he thought to himself as he shoved the toothbrush under the water and then into his mouth. _Seems like we're going to have to start taking our little mission seriously. _Riku scrubbed his teeth and watched as the blue toothpaste foamed. _Looks like I'm going to have to find a way for Rei to accept either myself or Axel as his friend._

Spitting out the foam Riku collect some water in the plastic cup. Taking a sip from it he swished the liquid around in his mouth. Pulling his lengthy hair back he spit it out into the sink. Cleaning off his toothbrush and rinsing out the cup he placed everything back in his toiletries bag. He pulled out a large stripped towel and a bar of soap. _But that means that I'll have to find out more about him, _Riku thought while stripping off his shirt. He walked towards the shower stalls, as he entered one of the stalls he slipped off his pants and his yellow boxers. Throwing his pajamas and towel over the top of the stall door he paused before flicking his wrist to turn the hot water on. Riku closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before grabbing the bar of green coloured soap. He thought back to what Axel had said last night.

_A person's room can reveal more about them than what you might learn through conversation._

Riku lathered the soap over his arms and his torso. _I guess that means I should find a way inside Rei's room. _Riku paused as he imagined himself breaking into Rei's room through a locked window. Squeezing his eyes shut Riku shook his head violently to get rid of all those thoughts.

_Rephrase: I should find a __**legal **__way into Rei's room._ With a flick of his wrist Riku shut off the running water. He wrapped his towel around his waist. Collecting his things Riku looked at his clean uniform.

_Crap…_He thought. _How did I forget my clean boxers? _Cursing under his breath Riku grasped everything in his right arm and struggled to keep his towel from slipping off his hips with his left hand.

Slowly he crept down the dark and deserted halls. The lights in the hallways though on were still dim. Out of the corner of his eye Riku was sure that he saw people moving. Chill went through his spine. Hurriedly he rushed towards his dorm.

As soon as he made it inside he slammed the door shut. Throwing his head back against the wood he sighed relieved to be in a safe and friendly environment. He closed his eyes and took in another big breath. When he opened them he saw a freshly woken Axel starring at his glistening wet toweled body with a raised eyebrow.

"Look, Riks if you're trying to seduce me it's totally working" Axel said jokingly with a slight yawn.

"Shut up" Riku started.

"Time?" Axel inquired. Riku looked at the digital clocks.

"7:45 a.m. Hurry up I wanna be in the caf for breakfast by 8" he said as he pulled out a pair of clean boxers and changed into his uniform. Axel dropped back onto his bed with a groan.

"Too early, go on without me" Axel said throwing his comforter over his head. Riku glared at him.

"Last time you said that I ended up covered in water and you were late for class" Riku said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Bregshtook?" Axel mumbled into his pillow.

"Yes really. Now I'll get your breakfast if you get down before 8:45"

"Glecaklshooplee?" Axel attempted poorly at conversation through his pillow.

"Of course you have to. So get up you lazy ass"

"Narglestemer" Axel retorted.

"Shut up Axel, you and I both know that ass is not a swear word. It means a donkey" Riku yelled as he picked up a small blue stuffed toy bear and threw it at Axel's head.

Axel reluctantly obliged to get up as soon as he had saved his teddy bear. Rubbing his tired eyes the red head watched Riku as he left the room. Scratching the back of his head he threw off his covers. Quickly throwing everything back in place he walked to his closet. Pulling out a clean uniform he was glad that he had showered in the night. Slipping on his shoes he grabbed a rather large bag and hauled it off to the bathroom.

Riku gave a sigh of relief as he looked around the cafeteria. The place was silent and empty for the most part. Like usual mornings the cafeteria had been open since 6 and the people who were at the tables since that time were usually catching up on unfinished homework, studying for a test, gossiping, just got back from early sports practice, or were just sleeping on the hard tables. Smiling broadly Riku approached the front counter without having to wait in a long line.

"Good morning Riku. Early as always" a soft feminine voice cooed.

"Hey Aerith" he said with a grin to the lady behind the counter.

Aerith was a volunteer who worked at the academy. She was of average height and fairly slim. Her long brown hair was usually pulled back into a twist braid, except for her bangs which framed her delicate face. Her sparkling jade green eyes and her soft smile made her easy to talk to, which is probably why she heard every piece of gossip that flew through the school. It was true that Aerith would be widely regarded as the schools know it all/guidance counselor, since the students talked to her more than the actual counselors. It would be wise to talk to Aerith if you were ever in need of information.

"So would you like the usual blueberry muffin, freshly cut apple slices, and no pulp orange juice?" she said.

"Yeah and can I put in Axel's order too?" he stated rather than asked as he leaned his weight against the counter. Propping his elbows up on the counter top he cradled his head in his hands.

"Let's see…4 chocolate chip waffles extra icing sugar with whipped cream and exactly 5 strawberries drizzled in strawberry sauce plus an extra huge gargantuan chocolate milk" she stopped and looked at Riku with a smile. "That's what he called it right?" Riku nodded knowing very well that she didn't really need his confirmation since it was the now famous Axel combo that was listed as one of the breakfast options.

"Alright coming right up" she said as she handed the order to another lady.

"Remember to hold Axel's until he gets here, he gets cranky when his waffles aren't piping hot" Riku said quickly.

"How long this time?" Aerith asked with a small laugh.

"He said that he'd be here before 8:45" Riku said with a hopeful sigh. Aerith handed him the prepackaged orange juice and apple slices.

"Muffins are still in the oven Riku" she said with a wink as she too leaned forward mimicking his posture. After a few minutes of staring at each other Aerith sighed and moved her hand to touch her cheek thoughtfully.

"So Aerith I have a question for you" Riku said as he twirled a lock of his silver hair. She looked at him curiously.

"Is this about the new kid?" Aerith whispered. Riku leaned in closer till they were almost touching noses.

"What do you know?"

"That everyone in the whole school is interested in him"

"Let me rephrase my previous question, do you know anything that is remotely useful?"

"Hmm…"she said closing her eyes as if searching every corner of her memory, "Not much to go on" she started. "Quiet; likes to read. Been known to spend free periods in the library, in fact some people say that they see him there early every morning" she paused and let Riku absorb all the information. "Not very social" she continued. "Apparently he only talks if directly addressed. Teachers say that he's exceptionally bright but gives very limited class participation. Overall he seems to have caused the interest of a couple of seniors and juniors if you know what I mean" she said emphasizing the last part.

"Thanks Aerith you rock" Riku said happily.

"Riku you know I'd do anything for you, you and Axel are like little brothers to me" she said petting his head. She suddenly grasped onto a lock of his hair and pulled him close again.

"So now you tell me your plan, or else I won't help you ever again" she stated sternly.

_Crap. Dilemma _Riku thought. _Aerith is a valuable asset. But I want to figure this out on my own. But it's Aerith I can't give up Aerith. _Finally Riku gave up.

"I think that he has a huge secret which he's hiding, and I want to – no I need to know what it is" Riku said quickly.

"I see" she said releasing his hair from her surprisingly tight grip. She stood up straight and while propping her left arm up with her right she touched her cheek, her jade eyes stared into spaceIt was a sight to behold, Aerith in deep thought, she seemed like a statue frozen in time, her body was completely still yet her eyes zipped around calculating every minute detail every slim chance every single possibility. Aerith suddenly closed her eyes and stood there for a long time.

"Alright I'll help" she said pulling out a pen and a small slip of pink paper from under the counter. She quickly scrawled a number and what looked like an e-mail address onto it.

"Hey Aerith those blueberry muffins are finally ready!" A young girl with short black hair yelled as she walked out into the front area holding the large heavy tray.

"Thank you Yuffie" Aerith said politely as she handed me the paper. The brunette then turned and pulled a plump piping hot blueberry muffin from the tray and put it down in front of Riku. She then stepped to the side to introduce and watch Yuffie's reaction as she first met the young silver haired beauty.

The younger girl's jaw dropped. Stumbling forward she tripped slightly and almost dropped all the muffins. Aerith quickly caught the girl and had placed the muffin tray on its cooling rack in the front glass case.

"Riku, this is Yuffie" Aerith said. "She's a freshman like you"

"Hi" Riku said extending his hand to shake hers. "I'm Riku Kurai, freshman" Yuffie fumbled and bit her bottom lip before grabbing his hand and shaking it lightly.

"Yu…Yuf…Yuffie Kisaragi" she stuttered as she started to shake his hand more violently. Suddenly her initial nervousness had disappeared. "You know I'm a freshman too." She rambled continuing to violently shake his hand. "Except you know, I don't go to school here. Since well you know it's a boy's academy though I heard that they were planning on making it co-ed soon, maybe I'll switch here 'cause this is the top ranked school in the province. But I guess you already knew all this 'cause you go here right? So I must really be boring you about all this stuff"

"Umm…Can I have my hand back please?" Riku asked timidly as he tried to pull his hand away to no avail.

"Hehe…Sorry" she said rubbing the back of her head with her now free right hand.

"So where do you go to school?" he asked politely.

"St. Lorelei d'Izlude Institute for female education; It's the all girls sister school to J.A. White's so that's why we're around here. We need to do volunteer work before graduating though. 40 hours! That's sheer madness I mean seriously, 40! Well anyway since Aerith is the reigning queen of volunteering I asked her for help and she brought me along with her here"

"Yuffie you should get back to stirring the porridge" Aerith said with a sweet smile.

"Right" Yuffie said flashing a grin and a quick thumbs up. "Nice to meet you Riku" she said waving her hand frantically.

"Queen of volunteering?" Riku started when he caught Aerith's gaze. "And I thought that you were here to see Axel me and of course Zack" Riku said with a fake pout.

"And I thought that you wanted to talk to Rei, but you're so busy he's almost done eating" she said shoving him off in the direction of his usual table.

"Wait one question!" he yelled before he was out of earshot.

"What?" she asked. Riku paused trying to think of how to word this so that it wouldn't sound impolite.

"Is that girl Yuffie…always like that?" he asked cautiously.

"More or less" she responded equally carefully. "Now go!"

Riku was pushed off in the direction of his table where Rei sat. Riku chuckled as he sat at the rectangular table.

"So you really do eat" Riku said looking at Rei who was holding his fork and knife over a couple of well prepared and sugared pieces of French toast. He watched the brown pieces of egg and toast covered in sugar and sticky maple syrup.

Rei turned his head. His lips moved as he chewed his food. Reaching over, Riku stuck his finger in the maple syrup quickly shoving his finger into his mouth. Riku licked the sticky brown syrup off his finger.

"Mmm…sugary" Riku said licking his lips.

Rei blinked. Cutting another square off his toast and shoving it in his mouth. Riku unwrapped the paper coating and started to pick at his muffin.

"Hey guys! Aerith kept my food warm! I love her. She's an angel. I wouldn't be surprised if she was some super crime fighter from Area 51 who's secretly scouting recruits and terminating the undead corpses of rouge hamsters" Axel said setting his tray full of waffles towering between him and Rei.

Rei stopped and starred at Axel's enormous order. Picking up his fork Rei cautiously poked at a strawberry. When the sticky pink sauce stuck to his fork he cringed. Taking off his glasses he spun his fork around carefully examining how much of the strawberry sauce had attached itself to his fork. He scrunched up his nose at the realization that his whole fork was dripping with the sticky stuff.

"What? You don't like strawberries?" Axel said taking a gulp from his chocolate milk.

"I take it you do?" Rei answered holding his fork out to Axel

"One of my more preferred delicacies" he responded as he took the fork and licked the strawberry off. "Got it memorized" he said. Pulling the fork out of his mouth Axel handed the small piece for plastic to the boy sitting across from him.

It took the lilac haired boy a minute to realize that he had his fork back before delicately cutting another square off his French toast. It didn't seem to bother him that the red head had recently run his tongue over the small plastic utensil. Rei continued to eat,

Finishing off the last in his breakfast, Riku carefully opened his orange juice and sipped it carefully.

"Anyway" Axel said through a mouth full of waffles and whipped cream. "Can you believe the rumor?"

"What rumor?" Riku asked with fake interest. The last time he heard a rumor from Axel it included a classmate of theirs, Demyx, being abducted by aliens and experimented on.

"Apparently, Mr. Mount is handing out a group assignment in home room today" Axel said. Riku stared at his best friend.

"That's not a rumor it's true" Rei said like he couldn't care less.

"How do you know this?" Axel said finishing the last of his waffles.

"He told me. It's because half the class failed some pop quiz which he warned us about a week in advance."

"Well that's just one pop quiz no need to throw a whole group project at us" Axel retorted.

"But that pop quiz was a practice for the up coming practice mid terms" Rei responded as he pulled his messenger bag onto his lap.

"Dammit !" Axel yelled before uttering a few more profanities. Rei stood and took his tray to a nearby garbage can. Throwing out the paper plate he put the plastic tray on the top of the dirty tray pile and walked back to the table. Rei moved quickly and engrossed himself in checking the contents of his bag.

"Well that's informative." Riku said gulping down the last of his orange juice.

"Yeah now I know that I have to worry about some project" Axel grumbled.

"Axel you and I both know that you're going to procrastinate and turn it in at the last minute so spare is the details" Riku sighed.

"Anything for you Riks" he said with a smile. Axel slowly rose and threw away his garbage leaving Riku and Rei to watch his still full glass of chocolate milk. Returning to his seat Axel pulled a neon green curly straw out of his pocket. It seemed at that instant that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at Axel and his straw. He quickly stuck the straw into his drink and took a long sip. Still holding his glass Axel wrapped his arms around Riku and Rei.

"Alright guys, let's get to class men!" he yelled dramatically.

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Sephiroth walked down the large hallway to the cafeteria. He has already eaten breakfast but now that the intramural flag football game was done he was desperate for something caffeinated. He wasn't able to concentrate all through the early morning game, though most people didn't seem to notice since he still single handedly lead his team to victory.

"Hey buddy wait up!" a male voice called. The sound of boots running down the halls caused Sephiroth to smirk. The tall silver haired teenager felt someone prop their arm on his shoulder and lean to the side.

"God…" a spiky black haired teenager panted. "Seriously Seph, you walk so fast even when you're tired" Catching his breath the black haired boy stood up and flashed a toothy smile at Sephiroth.

"I didn't tell you to run after me Zack" Sephiroth retorted. Zack laughed loudly, the sound carried through the fairly empty hallway.

"What kind of best friend would I be if I didn't chase after you?" he asked rhetorically. The two continued their walk to the cafeteria.

"So what do you want from the caf? I know you've already eaten" Zack said to his best friend.

"I just needed a drink maybe some pop or coffee or something" Sephiroth said.

"Wait those all have caffeine in them" Zack said with concern in his voice. "You never drink anything caffeinated"

"I was up all night for you information" Sephiroth said as the stepped into the cafeteria line. Zack quirked an eyebrow as he watched his best friend grab a large cup of black coffee. Sephiroth sighed realizing he would have to give an explanation.

"I was tossing and turning all night" Sephiroth said trying to remain vague in his reasons. Zack suddenly seemed as though he understood everything. He nudged Sephiroth with his elbow.

"Bow chicka wow wow" Zack said while making some thrusting actions with his pelvis. Sephiroth paid for his coffee and then turned to glare at his best friend.

"It's not like that Zack stop being gay" Sephiroth said as he went to find a seat. Zack pouted and followed quickly behind.

_I can't believe that Rei is actually Vincent's sister. His sister! _Sephiroth screamed in his head. He rubbed his temples as Zack continued to spew different reasons of why Sephiroth was up all night. Looking down into his cup Sephiroth realized that he had finished all his coffee. _I'm going to need more to drink._

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"So Rei, what else do you know that the rest of us don't" Axel asked as the trio strode down the halls to their home room.

"Nothing I'm allowed to tell you" Rei answered quickly. Axel pouted.

"Damn it Rei, you might be the only hope for our freshmen English class. The fate of our GPA rests solely on your shoulders" the red head ended dramatically.

"If you promise me that you'll never give this lecture to anyone again. Also if you do give this speech or one of a similar kind to any living creature it is punishable by sucker punch to the forehead or round house kick" Rei said. Axel touched his check in thought.

"…Deal!"

"In order to get us to understand the plays he's dividing us into groups and making us act out specific scenes from the plays" Rei said.

"Any information on the plays?" Axel asked.

"…ugh…Mr. Mount said that the plays will be Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer's Night's Dream, and 12th Night or What You Will" Rei said as they continued to walk.

"Well at least you collect good info" Axel started. "Though the last part's a little sketchy, I mean Twelfth Night _**or **_What you will? I wonder which Mr. Mount will choose"

Rei giggled femininely.

"What you will is an alternate title for the play the Twelfth Night" Rei said composing himself.

"God even Shakespeare can't come up with a title?" Axel complained.

Rei giggled intensely. Riku and Axel stopped to stare at him. Rei had never been this…hyper…before maybe something was wrong with him.

"Sorry" Rei said, his face turning scarlet red with blush. "You're just reminding me of someone in a strange way Axel"

"Really…" Axel said intrigued with the subject. The fiery red head snaked his arm around Rei's shoulders. "I hope that it was someone who was very close to you"

"Yeah, he was very close to me" Rei said sadly. Looking down it seemed like the lilac haired boy was talking more to himself than to the two boys with him.

"So who is this guy?" Riku finally asked. Rei quickly snapped out of his thoughts.

"I might tell you guys later" Rei said with a wink. "But right now we're in front of class"

Sure enough as they looked up they stared through the window of the door into their homeroom. Rei reached out to open to the large wooden doors to room 316. As the trio examined the classroom it seemed that they were fairly early. The desks were empty except for a few groups of people scattered here and there throughout the small room. As they took their seats Riku glanced at the large clock in the front of the classroom.

"8:56?" he wondered out loud. "It's a wonder that more people aren't here yet"

Axel shrugged as he tilted his chair back and placed his head on Riku's desk. He turned his head to face Rei and smiled a cat like grin.

"So Rei, who's this person that I reminded you of?" he asked.

"Someone important to me okay Axel, I told you that I might tell you later" he said. Rei opened his messenger bag and pulled out a new book the book was black and had a picture of a pair of hands holding an apple with the word 'Twilight' printed on the cover.

"And here I assumed that you loved us enough to tell. After all we are your BFF" Axel said as he pushed his weight forward into a perfect sitting position. The three of them suddenly went silent as both Riku and Rei shot Axel the strangest look in what could possibly be the history of glares, stares, and gazes.

"What…the…hell…" Rei said emphasizing every word. "Did he just really say BFF…"

"Best Friends Forever guys come on get with the program!" Axel yelled while snapping his fingers.

"You know what? Once I go around saying BFF then I'll tell you about my personal life" Rei said sarcastically.

"Great so I'll find out by lunch then?" Axel said happily. Riku turned and watched as Rei rubbed his temples and mutter about how he would kill Axel by slitting his throat while the red head slept.

"Trust me…Axel kind of buries deep into your soul. By tomorrow it won't even faze you anymore" Riku said trying to calm Rei down. Before Rei could respond the bell had rung and students started pilling in and rushing to their desks.

"Hey guys," Mr. Mount said casually in his heavy Welsh accent as he walked to his desk. His gaze was fixed on a dark purple lesson binder in his hands. Casually he sipped his coffee as he scrawled a few changes here and there to the notes. Placing his pen down on the large oak table he sat at Mr. Mount turned his wrist to check the time on his watch.

"Well it looks like we have just enough time to take attendance and announce the lesson before Axel shows up so let's get this over with…" Mr. Mount started to call names occasionally sipping his coffee during answers.

"Demyx Mizuoyu…"

"Here!"

"Riku Kurai" Mr. Mount took a sip expecting the regular response from the quietest student in his class. But instead…

"Mr. Mount! You forgot to call my name!" Axel yelled while flailing his arms. In the commotion of his over reaction to not being called Axel accidentally back handed Riku and punched the silver haired boy's nose.

"Oops…hehe…sorry Riks" Axel whispered to his best friend who glared at him with cold aquamarine eyes. Still stupefied by the fact that Axel was on time Mr. Mount spit his coffee all over the floor.

"Sweet mother of God! Axel? Are you here on time?"

"No, you see I've secretly been studying the arts of ninjutsu combined with parkours to learn how to successfully sneak into any room without being noticed by the handful of people that may or may not be there. Plus it was easier because you left the window open and since my seat is in front of Riku's and his seat is beside the window I was able to get here fairly quickly. Though I am a little shocked and appalled that a person of your caliber would be so stunned to see a pupil eager to learn here on time that he would spit his caffeinated beverage on the floor" Axel smiled proud that he had still gotten in his monologue of the day.

"Oh my God! Apocalypse!!!! Run for your lives guys!!!" A spiky blond haired boy who sat in the back yelled. He had a strange eye patch over one eye and sat next to two other boys. The one on his left was fairly large, he had long brown hair which was pulled back and wore glasses, and the other on his right had short but tall silver hair and was quiet.

"Shut the hell up Gippal!" the brown haired boy on his left yelled giving the blond a swift punch to the head.

"Guys let's not fight right now" the silver haired boy spoke up.

"Thank you Baralai" Mr. Mount said congratulating the silver haired boy for his peaceful ways. "Now I'd just like to say that I am extremely glad to see Axel finally acting responsibly and for once being punctual but still we should move on to our lesson"

"Actually" Demyx piped up. "I think that in honour of Axel's excellence we should celebrate by partying this whole period who's with me?" He called sticking his fist in the air. Demyx smiled brightly his light blue eyes shining.

"Wrong, though you do earn points for trying Demyx" Mr. Mount said. Demyx hung his head. The boy behind him with silvery blue hair that covered one of his eyes leaned forward and patted Demyx' dirty blond mullet. Demyx sighed.

"Oh well c'est la vie!" Demyx said with a smile.

"Anyway as I was saying, for the next three days you shall all be working on a group project. Your group shall draw a Shakespearean play from the bowl on my desk and then present a scene from the play, I'll choose the scene" Mr. Mount paused to gauge the reaction, the class of boys started to chatter about how it couldn't be that bad. Mr. Mount smirked. "Don't worry boys I've already chosen groups"

A communal groan spread across the room. Mr. Mount let the screams and wails run their course. He ignored the many actors faking heart attacks and seizures, except for little Keith who sat in the back next to the storage closet. He had a real heart attack and died instantly but because he had no friends or extra curricular activities nobody noticed and they went on with their business.

"Alright alright settle down" Mr. Mount said hushing the class. "Since there's an odd number of you there will be four groups of four and one group of three. Now get into the groups when I call you" he paused to let the information soak in.

"Ahem. Group number one: Demyx, Axel, Marluxia, and Vaan. Group number two: Xemnas, Saïx, Wakka, and Shuyin. Group number three: Gippal, Baralai, Nooj, and Keith. Group number four: Seifer, Rai, Guy, and Luke. And finally group five: Riku, Zexion, and Rei"

The crowd didn't seem completely disappointed with their groups as they converged. Mr. Mount was fairly quick at grasping who were friends and who worked well so the groups were perfect blends of the two.

"Alright groups can you all choose a rep to send to pick your play from the hat" Mr. Mount said loudly.

"Hey Mr. M you do know that's a bowl not a hat right?" Seifer, a loud mouth blond with a scar across his face said with a slight laugh. Seifer was strange in the way that he was a delinquent who prosecuted other delinquents; you would often find him getting scolded for wearing his black beanie hat in classes. Mr. Mount was the only teacher who didn't seem to bother about Seifer's little hat problem. Walking over Mr. Mount plucked the hat off of Seifer's head and shoved the plays into it.

"There now there in a hat, everything makes sense now Seifer?" he said smugly.

Seifer stared at his hat being held captive. His blond hair lay flat against his head from the hours of wearing that hat. The class broke into a round of laughter at the priceless scene.

"Alright then reps to the front" Mr. Mount ordered. After three minutes of pushes and shoves there was eventually a semi straight line in the front of the classroom. Mr. Mount looked at each of them carefully as if they were in boot camp to train for war.

"Every rep here will now be the team leader who will lead the team to greatness is that clear?" he more stated than asked. There was complete silence. Mr. Mount thrust Seifer's hat at Demyx who, taken by surprise, almost dropped the thing. Quickly recovering he shoved his hand inside and fished around pulling out a small slip of paper.

"Read it out loud Demyx" Mr. Mount said.

"Oh! Right, ahem!" Demyx cleared his throat. "You shall be performing the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet!" Demyx yelled surprised. "Oh crap…" he said as his group groaned and slapped their hands to their faces.

The class roared with laughter as the tall blond sulked back to his waiting group. Xemnas, the next in line seemed thrilled that possibly the most romantic and gushy scene that could possibly be pulled had already been pulled out. Sticking his hand in the hat he yanked out a small piece. Unfolding the little paper he read:

"Killing the king in Macbeth" Xemnas was pleased at the violence which it seemed to imply.

"Don't say the play's name!" Wakka yelled jumping up and down. "That's a cursed play ya"

"Don't be a baby Wakka" Saïx snapped.

"Hey if you wanna get killed man be my guest just don't let me be involved ya"

Xemnas strode back to his seat.

Excitedly Gippal stuck his hand in the hat and immediately retracted it holding a folded slip in his clenched fist.

"Your group shall perform a secret scene from Hamlet which the class will have to guess after" Gippal smiled. It seemed like he liked this choice a lot since he seemed to dance back to his seat.

Luke reluctantly thrust his hand in pulling out the first slip he came in contact with. He mumbled as he read that his group would showcase the scene of the four lovers awakening in the forest from a Midsummer Night's dream.

Lastly Riku took the hat and stared at it. He looked at his group. Rei and Zexion could almost be twins now that he thought about it. There hair held similar colours, though Rei's was distinctly purple and Zexion's more blue, there single eyes seemed identical yet Rei's were slightly darker. Both continually had their nose stuck in some book and both only quirked and eyebrow as Riku held the fate of their project in his hands. _I wouldn't be surprised if they were secretly twins _Riku thought. Deciding to get the pain over with quickly he shoved his hand in. Realizing that there was only one slip of paper left he pulled it out and stared it over. Reading it over it didn't seem so bad.

"The final scene in Twelfth Night"

Rei laughed when he heard this. The class turned and stared at him for the first time since he introduced himself what felt like months ago. Rei shook his head.

"It's fairly ironic that's all" he said waving the thought off. Riku pocketed the paper and walked to meet his group.

Just as he sat down the loud ringing of the bell indicated period 2's beginning. Riku blinked as he heard Axel yell something. The red head turned to his best friend.

"See ya at lunch Riks" Axel said with a cat like grin as he pranced off. _This is going to be a long and boring morning _Riku thought to himself. Gathering his bag Riku walked slowly trying to avoid his inevitable math class.

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Rei sighed as he ran out of 3rd period art. The art department was just across the hall from the caf. Leisurely Rei strolled into the large empty room. _Since I'm always here early I get choice of seating _he mused to himself as he sat down. Slowly he watched as the room filled with hungry students.

"Hey" Sephiroth said as he sat down. The silver haired teenager threw his books all over the table.

"Hey…" Rei responded while picking up text book that Sephiroth had thrown. "Philosophy?"

"Don't ask…ever" Sephiroth responded as he dropped his head onto the lard wooden table. Rei rolled his eyes.

"So…" Sephiroth said as he looked at Rei. "Have you told them yet?"

"Only when they catch me half naked in my dorm room drinking a carton of milk will I tell them. And that seems fairly safe considering that only 3 percent of the student population knows the location of my dorm room"

"You seem to forget that I'm one of the three percent" Sephiroth said smugly.

"See, when you say things like that I can't help but wonder whether you're a spy" Rei said crossing his arms over his chest.

"If I was a spy my dear we wouldn't be having this conversation because I would have already told them" Sephiroth leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"Told who what?" Riku said dropping his bag on the seat beside Sephiroth.

"Fish sticks anyone?" Axel said as he bit into a large fish stick.

"So what's everyone been doing today?" Sephiroth asked as he stole one of Axel's fish sticks and bit into it gracefully.

"Stupid fucking classes…" Riku grumbled.

"Hey man, speak for yourself. Today during MGM Mr. Merlin decided that a personal experiment was more important than our seminar. But whatever, so we were watching the experiment and it bubbled and glowed continually. Then it emitted a strange green light. Bad news is now I think I might be sterile. Good news is that I might be sterile!" Axel said giving a quick thumbs up.

"Axe, two things…one you're an idiot, two you're gay being sterile means nothing! And three you're an idiot" Riku said.

"That was three things!" Axel said happily.

"Hey there's my fabulous tutor!" Cloud shouted as he skipped across the cafeteria. Leon was not far behind. Cloud took the seat on Rei's left as Leon took the one across from Cloud. Searching through his bag Cloud pulled out a bottle of Sprite and a small bag of green mints Rei stared at the bag. Cloud grinned.

"So, Rei-Rei what do you know about French?" Cloud said.

Too caught up to notice the nickname that Cloud had just bestowed upon him for life, Rei answered quickly.

"I'm fluent in my French" he said as he watched. Cloud put the bottle and the bag of mints in front of Rei.

"Good 'cause I don't know crap…" Cloud said leaning back.

"Whenever you want to start man" Rei said opening the bottle.

"Sweet mon frère" Cloud said pulling out a large binder. "So what in god's name does this thing that Mr. Anthony wrote on my paper mean?" Rei leaned over the binder and brought his glasses down to the bridge of his nose.

"Cloud honey…that's your name" Rei said.

"Oh…well then what does the rest of this mean?"

"It says that your report was written in German not French"

"Well that explains why I got a Z…" Cloud said his voice full of realization.

"Z?" Riku asked.

""Yeah my report was so bad he invented a new grade" Cloud said quietly.

"Wow" the rest of the table mouthed silently. Axel scrunched his face up.

"Wait Cloud so you can speak German fluently?" Axel asked confused.

"Well technically he thought it was French" Leon pointed out.

"Right…" Axel paused. "So wait…Cloud what other languages can you speak Cloud?"

"Well I can speak Chinese!" Cloud said happily.

"Say something" Riku said sceptically.

"Bonjour mes amis, comment ça va? Moi ? Je pense que c'est une belle journée pour jouer Halo. Voulez-vous jouer avec moi ? " Cloud said.

Everything was quiet. Then suddenly Sephiroth chuckled, and it seemed like the okay for the rest of the group to break out into laughter. Rei clutched his head and Axel held his stomach and banged his hand on the table. Cloud was confused.

"What is it?" Cloud asked.

"Just forget it Cloud" Sephiroth said while trying to calm himself down. After the laughter had calmed down it was suddenly quiet. The silence was awkward as everyone poked the food on their trays.

"So…did anyone else realize how awkward this is?" Axel asked as he picked up another fish stick.

"What?" Cloud responded more than little confused this time.

"Well usually we only sit like this at dinner…but now its lunch…and I don't know it's just throwing everything out of whack" Axel ended.

"That's a little strange" Rei mumbled quietly as he continued to try to explain to Cloud that his 'Chinese' was actually 'French'. Riku raised an eyebrow at the boy sitting across from him.

"I don't know" Rei continued as if answering the silent question. "I expected a long monologue about how since Jupiter was now rotating counter clockwise causing Uranus to spin horizontally Europa crashed into Io and was causing a strange subconscious radiation which killed all alien bacteria and started us sitting together"

"I don't know" Cloud piped up. "I expected him to spread those rumours about Pluto not being a planet"

"Actually Cloud…Pluto isn't a planet anymore since it's confirmed to actually be a binary planet system, that's when two tiny planets are orbiting each other" Rei said factually.

Leon coughed to try to break the awkward silence that had settled in again, though it didn't seem to be working.

"Wow, you're like a walking encyclopaedia" Cloud paused "I think I shall call you a wikipedia"

Riku opened his mouth to say something but he felt Sephiroth cover it quickly.

"Don't crush his dreams Riku, let him have his dreams" Sephiroth said.

The group continued to chatter around the table as lunch droned on. Today it was Riku who kindly 'offered' (with encouragement) to put away all the empty trays. As he stood at the large garbage bin dumping the trash he felt something brush against his back. Turning around he saw the eternally moody and cynical Zexion followed by his loyal side kick Demyx.

"Kurai, I have a GPA to maintain. Therefore this group project must be completed quickly. You and Dokushoka are to meet me in the library tomorrow before dinner is served" and with that he walked away leaving Demyx standing there smiling obliviously for a few seconds.

"Demyx!" Riku said snapping his fingers. Shaking his head Demyx seemed to wake up.

"What? Oh hey Riku! What's up?" Demyx said still smiling.

"Nothing much" Riku said politely. "What about you?"

"I don't know there was music and notes, and voices, where's my sitar?" the blond wondered out loud. Riku kept quiet and watched Demyx think out loud.

"Hmm…where's Zexy? And why were we here again?" he asked.

"Zexion wanted me to meet him tomorrow in the library" he watched Demyx nod. "Zexion went that way" Riku said pointing to the back table. Demyx snapped his fingers in a thumbs up and smiled while walking off.

"Can you tell Axel to meet me in the library tomorrow same time please and thank you!" Demyx yelled from a distance. Riku nodded quickly as he watched Demyx case to catch up with Zexion. _If ever the saying opposites attract was put to the test those two were living examples_ he thought.

Demyx Mizuoyu was an easy going, hyper, happy, enthusiastic, music playing, water loving, and hypothetically the illegitimate love child of a hippie and a French maid instead of the son of two wealthy entrepreneurs. Though the two had constantly forced rules and regulations on him he always stood out as more of a free spirited artist.

Zexion Nioi was a completely different story. The petite blue haired boy was extremely intelligent, perceptive, factual, realistic, sarcastic, cynical, and pessimistic in every sense of the words (all of which he knew and could recite for you) He was the carefully planned and prepared for third and youngest son in his family. It was well known that his father expected much of him, and it was probably this knowledge that desensitized him to everything but grades, and school.

But the pair was inseparable. Zexion had spent years building walls and breaking all connections from the other students and his peers. It was strange that he let Demyx follow him around like a lost puppy. Surprisingly enough they picked up for each other quickly.

Walking back to his seat Riku listened as Rei went into a sneezing fit.

"What's wrong with you?" Leon finally piped up.

"Probably –achoo– nothing" Rei responded while wiping his nose with a silk handkerchief.

"Doesn't seem like nothing" Sephiroth added. Rei's face was flushed and just looked at him made Riku feel hot.

"Maybe you should see the nurse" Riku suggested holding his hand to Rei.

"Trust me guys I'll be…ah…ahhh…ahhh…achoo!" Rei sneezed loudly as he toppled backwards.

_Maybe I'll just reschedule with Zexion…_Riku thought as he watched Rei grab his things and leave the cafeteria.

"Hey Riku" Axel whispered. Riku turned his attention to the flaming red head.

"You have period 5 with Rei right?" Axel asked.

"Yeah…Wait why?" Riku asked suddenly curious. Axel smiled slyly.

"Well wouldn't it be a shame if poor studious Rei missed some crucial notes and homework from fifth period class? I think it would be a good idea if some concerned friends who just happened to have both notes and homework to pay a visit to his dorm" Axel said with a wink.

"You are a genius Axel, except one problem…we don't know where his dorm is" Riku said with a soft sigh.

"130 Valentine Hall" Sephiroth interjected as he piled his text books into his bag.

"What?" Axel and Riku asked simultaneously.

"130 Valentine Hall I suggest that you go visit him as soon as you get his 'homework'" Sephiroth said standing up.

"Wait…how do you?" Riku started.

"Don't ask questions little cousin" Sephiroth said. Suddenly there was a loud ringing. "Oh look the bell good bye everyone see you all at dinner"

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Without Rei to bug and no immediate mystery to solve life was boring. Axel met Riku outside of his period 5 math class.

"So, ready to go and barge head first into Rei's secret life?" Axel asked.

"Of course" Riku answered readily.

"Any second thoughts, last minute regrets?" Axel said in a serious tone.

After a second of silence the two burst out in laughter. In all the years they had known each other, after all the things they'd done; neither of them ever felt a single hint of remorse. They often joked about it but it's one of life's major rules, go with instinct and never second guess yourself or feel bad later. That always led to trouble.

It was fairly uneventful as the duo trudged their way through the hallways to Rei's room. They often mused over what they would find in Rei's room and now it was the moment of truth. As they pondered whether to knock on the large midnight blue painted door. Deciding against it Axel stooped down and started picking the lock(although Riku looked away; for another life lesson they had learned was that having plausible deniability was always better than the insanity plea…always) When Axel had finished his work the pair paused and looked at each other.

"Should we count to three?" Riku asked.

"Alright let's do this…" Axel said. The pair locked eyes for a minute and nodded.

"Three!" they yelled together as they ran and kicked the door open. Running into the spacious room the two teenage boys collided with something petite and slender. Riku stood up and closed the door ever so quietly as his gaze was focused solely on the person on the floor. Not just a person but a girl, a girl holding a half finished Sprite bottle.

The girl on the floor was familiar she was so busy looking at the floor and mumbling incoherent threats that Riku could have almost missed it. The girl on the floor was Rei. He or…was it she? Whoever Rei was, was wearing a short pale pink cashmere spaghetti strap night dress that curved around her body. Both Riku and Axel's jaw dropped. Slowly Rei turned her pale soft face up towards them her glasses removed and her crimson eyes were large and wide.

"Oh…crap…" she said.

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**Wow guys that chapter was a killer. The rough ended up being around 40 pages long which is a lot for one chapter and it takes for ever to type. I started typing this at around 9 pm yesterday and I just finished at 4:30 am…so I guess I'm not gonna go to sleep today. Anyway I'm going to apologize again for not updating sooner, I really wanted to. But for the next little while I warn that I'm going to be busy because I'm piecing together my Halloween costume, this year I'm making a Final Fantasy X-2 Rikku black mage costume all I have to do is get started but luckily I'm ahead in most of my school work. If I don't get it done by Halloween then I'll wear it to Anime North or next year for Halloween. Also if anyone recognizes Luke and Guy from Tales of the Abyss it's a game that my sister has recently started to obsess over, and since all my video game consoles are connected to the same TV it took me too long to get to play Halo 3 and Eternal Sonata (both of which are equally amazing) anyway night guys…well I guess I should say good morning. So R&R please anything will do. Tata for now. (P.S. if anyone has read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer don't you lurve Edward )**


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: Don't own legal rights to Kingdom Hearts. But I do own this story…I'd switch it for Kingdom Hearts legal rights anyday…(T-T)_

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Axel's jaw hung. Even though he was flamboyantly gay seeing this might have turned him. Okay, actually no it wouldn't but he felt that it might have for any other guy in the school…at this minute. He stared at 'Rei' as 'he' sat on the floor in a fitting tank top and a peasant skirt. Axel blinked a few times trying to recall every piece of information that he knew.

1. They lived on earth

2. Aliens didn't

3. Aliens are 'different'

4. They were at J.A. White's _**Boys **_Academy

5. It takes exactly 8197 licks to get to the tootsies roll centre of a tootsies pop (on average)

6. Eating year old Halloween candy that you found under your bed will give you a bad case of stomach aches accompanied by a lot of vomiting.

7. Tricycles are not flammable (though the children on them are)

8. As long as you believe in it then it's real

9. 'Rei Dokushoka' was the new 'boy' in class

10. 'Rei' was 'different'

Ergo Axel had decided that 'Rei' was an alien. He smirked as he realized that he wasn't too far off after all. _'Rei' isn't an alien with green skin and bulging pink eyes who wanted to enslave the human race. 'Rei' is a girl, wait…now that I think about it maybe it would have been better if she was just an alien _Axel thought. He closed his eyes and absorbed all the new information that he had just learnt. Everything suddenly just seemed to click._ The feminism, the straight A's, not wanting to have any friends…Wait a minute... _Axel listened to the floorboard creak under pressure. His eyes snapped open instantly and locked in on their target.

"Don't move." He said as he stood up from the ground. The rustling stopped. Tension was thick in the air as Axel hastily decided his next move. "Go sit down in there" he commanded. Axel listened as the footsteps gave way to a plop and squeak indicating that weight was being put on a couch. Quickly Axel spun around and closed the door quietly locking it to make sure that there were no intrusions. _No matter if Rei had lied and tricked everyone in the school and made me and Riku go on this crazy hunt she's still a friend and right now she needs to be protected. _Axel turned around and began to walk to where Rei was probably sitting until. THUD! Axel groaned as pushed away from the wooden floor, he looked back and saw Riku's body lying in the hallway. _Idiot, I can't believe that he fainted. _Axel scrambled up and heaved Riku's limp body off the floor. The red head grunted as he pulled his best friend onto his back. _Good god man, _Axel thought, _when this is over I'm taking you to the gym to shed a few pounds._

With a little effort Axel was able to haul Riku into a small sitting area. He made it just as far as the couch which Rei was sitting on before he dropped the silver haired teen.

"Would you mind if he crashes here? He's too heavy to carry anywhere else" Axel said smiling. Rei bit her bottom lip and shook her head violently. Riku's body fell limply from resting on her shoulder to her lap.

"Don't mind the drool, he tends to do that when he's out cold" Axel said waving his hand as if dismissing a servant.

"I take it that he's passed out before?" Rei asked as she watched Axel walk towards her large television.

"Several times, recently he's gotten better at handling shocks. But I guess when you see someone who you thought was a guy wearing girl clothes it temporarily shuts down a normal person's brain" the red head responded as he bent down and started searching through different CDs and other such things.

"That explains why you're not affected" Rei whispered.

"Touché" Axel said picking out a disc and placing it into a slim black Playstation 2. He picked up two wireless controllers and threw one to Reina. Catching it she watched as he turned it on. Starting up the console Axel walked over and sat on the floor in front of his female friend. Colours flashed on the screen as the images of a few teenage ninjas came onto the screen.

"Naruto Ultimate Ninja? Why are we playing a video game when any normal person would be interrogating me?" Rei said as she chose a male ninja with blue hair.

"Because my dear, firstly I am not a normal person as you have stated. Secondly I have a tendency to retain information when I am distracted; thirdly you tend to give out information when you're distracted. Now this guy looks cool!" Axel quickly chose a male ninja with short red hair and a tattoo on his forehead.

"Alright, but prepare to get your ass whooped sucka" Rei said as she quickly selected a male ninja in a blue shirt and white shorts. Axel had the privilege of choosing the battle field for this round, and with that their game of questions could begin. The countdown on screen began at three, Axel concentrated with all the force he had in his body as the numbers flashed two and one. When the word 'START' flashed he was off. Landing the first blow Axel began.

"So, Rei, that's your boy name huh? Well what's your real name?"

"My name's Reina Marie Valentine" she said as she tapped a few buttons sending her character off into a counter and attack move. "But I usually go by Rei, that's why I used it as my enrolment name" It was Axel's turn to counter; his character moved to the back of the stage and picked up an item that had appeared on screen.

"Valentine? Like as in the name of the dorm where you're staying Valentine? Why'd you enrol as Dokushoka?" he asked as he used sand shuriken to halt Reina's advance.

"Could you imagine the pandemonium that would ensue if I went around telling people that I was a Valentine? Too much unwanted attention" she retorted. This caused Axel to snort.

"Like you weren't getting any attention" he said his eyes never once leaving the screen.

"Alright, alright point taken. Next question" she said as she watched her character call for help.

"So why'd you come here? Why not go to an all girls school? You know there's one on the other side of the island right?" Axel said.

"St. Lorelei d'Izlude's Institution for Female Education? Are you mad man?! It's a god damn institution! I'd rather die a thousand deaths before going to any school with the word institution in it" she said as she bopped Axel on the head.

"Okay and I thought that I dramatized things" he said jokingly.

"Besides this is the top ranked school in the province, I would be crazy to not want to go here" she ended.

"Well how did you get in here anyway? Don't they have like some kind of test thing to prove you're a boy?" Axel asked.

"No, Axel can you even think of how stupid that would be?" Reina said scrunching up her face.

"Well don't we have physicals or something? And by the way don't think that I didn't notice that you totally side stepped my question. Which might I add you did a fine job in doing; a regular person would have just carried on with the conversation or maybe even argued. I must say you would do an excellent job at fooling Riku and Cloud, hell maybe even Leon! I must say Madame that I applaud you" he smiled.

"Fine, alright see my brother's an alumni and a large donor. He graduated with top marks and something else so he said that he wanted the same for me. Then he came up with the idea of turning J.A. Whites from a boy's academy to a co-ed academy. Naturally everyone was thrilled but then the whole thing of how to integrate it came up. So obviously I became the test subject. I'm supposed to make it known little by little that I'm a girl and see how they react. In fact I'm kind of surprised that so many people know already after all it's only October" she ended.

"Ah…and back to the story of your brother. So who is he anyway?" Axel asked.

"Vincent Valentine" she mumbled. Axel paused for a moment. He could feel his eye twitch as she said those words.

"You mean THE Vincent Valentine? Like the one who owns all those companies and is the richest man alive! The one who holds the record for best marksman and has the rights to the biggest and best movie companies" Axel thought his heart had exploded. Shaking his head he realized that it wasn't it heart but it might have been his spleen.

"Oh my god. Axel are you okay? You look like your heart just exploded" Reina said shaking him a little more.

"Nah not my heart…but I think it might have been my spleen. Useless thing, what do you need a spleen for anyway? I mean seriously it's there for no reason like your uvula. Both of them do me no good. Though I heard somewhere that you could die if your spleen explodes" he smirked.

"Um…Axe you're thinking of your tonsils and your appendix…If your spleen exploded…you'd probably be in one of those metal casts and we'd have to pull the plug on your life support" she said looking down at him.

"Alright so I guess it's not my spleen then but let us move on. Last question, then I swear I'll never bother you with something stupid again" Axel said attempting to pull off a combo with his character, though failing terribly. Reina was a little worried. This would be it, the moment of truth, when Axel would decide whether he would be her friend or not. Was it worth the risk? Or should she just try to avoid the last question until Riku woke up and could give her his opinions? She sighed knowing she should just get it over with now.

"Shoot…" she said a little reluctantly.

"Why don't you ever eat? I mean all I see is you chomping away at those mints and that Sprite. But then there was that time at breakfast where you ate some French toast…whatever you know what never mind can I ask a new question? Of course I can! You know that kid Wakka in English? How does he get his hair to stand up like that? I mean that is some crazy hair right there! It just goes whoop! And like that weird headband what's up with that? Oh! And for the matter what about Cloud's hair? I mean firstly it makes him look like one of those giant birds, what are they called again…You know the big yellow ones that are all like 'Wark I wanna eat'cha!' Yeah not ostriches…and Big Bird was just fictional…I hope…Whatever, anyway you could like impale someone on Cloud's hair it's that spiky! And Sephiroth, Sephiroth! His hair is like insanely long and perfect! No split ends, no knots, no nothing! It's like all he does is sit there groom it to perfection" Axel paused to take in a deep breath. Before he could continue all he heard was a soft laugh.

"You're one to talk Axe, have you seen your hair? It's crazy" Reina said with a wink as she successfully finished a combo without Axel knowing. She watched as she beat his character and won the battle. Suddenly she felt something move in her lap. Looking down she noticed Riku's head turn. Slowly he got up and held his head like it was throbbing. Axel turned around and smirked.

"God Riku, next time we go to a party try not to get so stoned! Do you know how long it took me to track you down here? And that tattoo? Why'd you get it there? Nobody will ever be able to see it" Axel said seriously. Riku who still seemed a little dazed bought into all of Axel's lies and started to freak out. Panicking he smacked the side of Reina's head, and jumped over Axel as he rushed to the bathroom to try and discover the location of the alleged tattoo.

"So how long before he realizes that he didn't get a tattoo?" Reina asked with a chuckle as she peered over Axel's head to stare at the closed bathroom door.

"I say around two more minutes…Riku's a fairly heavy sleeper. I mean I've done a lot of stuff to him while he was asleep and he just stays knocked out. Doesn't feel a thing" Axel said as he motioned his hands to coordinate with what he just said. Reina stared at him for a moment.

"I don't even want to know…" she said rubbing her temples. At that moment Riku burst out of the bathroom.

"All right Axel I sure as hell know I wasn't at any party, and I definitely didn't get stoned. And hell would freeze over before I get a tattoo!" Riku yelled. Suddenly he stopped noticing Reina sitting on the couch.

"Ugh…Hi?" Reina said waving her hand cautiously.

"…Axel can I talk to you for a minute" Axel sighed as he heard Riku say this. He stood up and dusted himself off. Slowly walking over towards Riku he stopped in front of the silver haired teen.

"Mmm, yes?" Axel said exaggerating the 'yes' making it sound comical.

"Who is that?" Riku whispered pointing his index finger at Reina.

"Who now?" Axel said turning his head to look back. "Oh that's Reina. R-E-I-N-A. Got it memorized? You know Reina! That time, and she was there, and you were there, and I was there. Good times…good times" he said as he snapped his fingers.

"All right…let's try this again" Riku said a little annoyed. "What in god's name is she doing here? This is a boy's academy. B-O-Y-apostrophe-S. You know male, man, guy, dude, gentleman and so on and so forth"

"Riku!" Axel gasped. "Are you being prejudiced against the female species?! I am both shocked and appalled at this" Axel shook his head and mocked disappointment. "I'm so upset that you could be so closed minded. I mean what if she was your sister? Would you be prejudiced against her then? Seriously Riku try using your head once in a while. If you don't then you're just carrying around ten pounds of dead weight on your shoulders. And to think, that I looked up to you as a role model? Tsk tsk tsk…"

"What?! No I'm not preju – what I meant was – ergg!!! Axel!" Riku growled.

"Axe, you shouldn't use so many big words with Riku. I mean come on 'the'? 'at'? 'both'?! You know that he doesn't know the meaning of any of those!" Reina said standing up. She casually walked over to a closet beside her television. She turned off the small purple Gamecube as she passed. She pulled open the closet doors and walked inside. Axel starred at the doors of the closet as the closed shutting Reina in. Silence fell on the room for the few minutes that Reina was in the closet. Suddenly she emerged donning the full J.A. White's uniform. She held her round glasses in her hand and walked away from the closet towards a small vanity in the corner of her room. Adjusting the glasses onto her face she smiled. Standing up she walked towards Riku.

"Hey" she said turning her large crimson eyes on him.

"Rei – Rei?" Riku stuttered. "What the – but she? And he? And you? And…and…and…cheese…" Riku mumbled. He turned to glare at Axel. "Why do I have a feeling that you can explain all of this to me?"

"Because I'm a genius? Doi!" Axel said patting Riku's head. Riku cleared his throat. "Fine…" Axel started. "Long story short, Rei Dokushoka is actually Reina Valentine. They're experimenting with whether or not girls and boys can be in the same school and some other stuff"

"Alright well that seems to make sense…wait a minute. Did you say Reina Valentine? As in related to THE Vincent Valentine?!" Riku spazzed.

"Riks" Axel said placing his hand on Riku's shoulder. "We've already been over the whole Valentine relation situation. Just let it go man, let it go…" Axel paused to look up at a conveniently placed LCD clock on the wall. "Besides at this rate we're going at we're going to miss dinner!"

"Achoo!" Rei sneezed loudly. "I don't think I can go to dinner tonight guys, I think I might have picked up a cold" Rei turned around and was about to head back to the closet to change when he felt something or someone hold his shoulders. Turning around he looked straight into Riku's aquamarine eyes.

"Don't worry we'll bring you up some food and company…" he said softly. Riku studied the look on Rei's face. "No we won't bring Cloud and Leon. We might bring Sephiroth though" he said smiling. He watched as Rei sighed.

"No, I think I should tell Cloud and Leon. After all you guys are my friends here right? So I should be honest with you…all of you" he paused. "Thank you Riku," he continued "I know that I haven't explained anything but I'll answer to everything when we eat" Riku nodded.

"Hahahahahah!" Axel burst out laughing. He clutched his sides and a tear fell from his eye. "Oh. My. God. That was such a perfect movie moment! Where was my video camera when I need it?" Riku scoffed.

"Come on Spielberg, let's go get some food and friends" he said grabbing Axel's wrist and dragging him out of the room. Axel continued to giggle for a long time. Rei slowly closed the door after them. He left it unlocked as he made his way to the closet. Slowly he dressed into a skirt and tank top. Now he was Reina. Walking out of the closet she looked around her empty room. Her stomach was doing flips, she was so nervous at telling her 'friends' the truth. She walked over to the small vanity. Reaching down she picked up a small plastic picture frame from it. She stared at the picture of her brother blowing out the many candles on his birthday cake.

_Vincent…_she thought. _I hope I'm doing the right thing by telling them so soon. _She took in a quivering breath. _What would you do? I wish you were here with me right now. But of course you have to lead a busy life off in the corporate world. So busy, can't even make time for me your only family…_

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Riku and Axel entered the cafeteria quietly. The place was packed and it seemed like nobody had noticed their presence. Peering over the crowd the pair looked for the back table where they usually sat. Sure enough sitting there were Cloud, Leon, and Sephiroth. The strangest thing was that today Zack Fair sat with them as well.

Zack Fair was a junior like Sephiroth. He had jet black hair which was styled in a strange spiky way. Zack was well built and had a loud voice that was full of life. He was so loud in fact that his voice could carry across the whole cafeteria in the middle of the regular dinner rush.

"Crap…" Axel muttered under his breath as he sank back into the crowd. The fiery red head crossed his arms over his chest. Riku looked as his best friend.

"What?" he asked.

"We can't pull them away and tell them that Rei wants to see them all in his dorm if Zack is there. She hasn't even actually met the guy yet" Axel said he moved his hands on top of his head. "We have to think of something really clever and carefully planned out so that Sephiroth will catch on and save our hides"

"Hm…" they said in unison. Riku looked up. He noticed that the line for food wasn't that long. _I did promise to bring up food didn't I?_ he asked himself as he made his way to the line. Axel quickly followed. They discussed quietly what they could do but nothing seemed like it would work. Axel sighed.

"Wow…we suck hardcore" he stated.

"Now don't say that" Aerith said smiling. "So boys what do you want?" she asked. Riku mentally smacked himself. _Why didn't I think of it before?_ He thought back to what Aerith had said earlier today.

"Aerith we need your help!" Riku exclaimed. Aerith raised an eyebrow as she pulled out a tray with their usually meals on it.

"What? Care to explain guys?" she said as she started to pile things onto the red tray. I could feel Axel starring at me, confused about why I had told Aerith.

"See, we figured out what was going on about Rei!" Riku started to say.

"That's amazing! So quickly. So what is it?" she asked curiously.

"See he's actually a she if you catch my drift" Riku added "But the problem is that now she's a little sick and she wants to tell Cloud and Leon and Seph"

"I still don't understand what the problem is…" she said looking over at the back table where we usually sat. "Oh…" she said eyeing Zack with the group. "You can't say anything in front of Zack. Got it."

"Any ideas?" Axel inquired finally. Aerith closed her eyes and touched her check.

"Hm…." She said. She opened her eyes and blinked a few times. "Alright leave Zack to me, just get them out of here while I have him pre-occupied" she said.

"Thanks Aerith!" Axel and Riku said in unison. "By the way, can we have this stuff packed to take upstairs?" Riku asked. Aerith chuckled and pulled out a few plastic bags. Quickly she packaged everything that was on a plate and shoved it into the bags. She then proceeded to walk out from behind the counter. Grabbing our bags we moved over to a side to watch her work her magic. Aerith was making some hand gestures and talking to Zack. The tall boy was smiling and laughing, he nodded his head and then turned and waved goodbye to the guys at the table. Then he and Aerith left.

Rushing, Axel and Riku sprinted to the table. Crashing into the side and grunting in pain the duo took a moment to calm down. Taking a deep breath in Riku started.

"Guys, Rei isn't feeling well. So Axe and I were thinking that…we could ugh…all go up to his dorm and visit him" Riku said looking over the group. Cloud and Leon seemed to nod in agreement. Sephiroth on the other hand studied them carefully.

"Are you sure that Rei wants to bring all these people up to his dorm room?" the older silver haired teen said choosing his words carefully. Riku and Axel nodded vigorously.

"That's what he told us. He wants everyone to come and visit him for dinner and we could just hang out and talk" Axel said emphasizing the last word. Sephiroth nodded seeming to have caught on.

"Then let's go" he said standing up. And they were off, through the cafeteria and up the stairs. Sephiroth leading them on through the winding hallways of dorm rooms; and then they stopped in front of the white door of 130 Valentine Hall.

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Reina swallowed the two Advil pills. She could feel herself getting a fever, and a headache was coming on as well. _It's probably all the stress…_she thought to herself. She finished off the glass of water. She stepped out of her bathroom and went to go lie down on her double sized bed. Closing her eyes she tried to think of a peaceful memory which would calm her down. She was just about to fall into a light sleep when there was a knock at the door. She listened as the knob turned and the wooden door was pushed open.

"Hey Rei" she heard Riku call. "Axe and I are back. And we brought the others" She listened at the sound of Cloud going on about how cool this dorm was. The sound of them taking off their shoes and walking down the front hall. Moving slowly she pulled the comforter from the bed and wrapped herself up in it. She had just about opened her eyes when she caught a glimpse of Cloud's hair preceding him into the room. The gang looked around. Axel noticing the lump of comforter on the bed walked over and sat beside her.

"Hey Reina, feeling any better?" he asked stroking her hair. She groaned. She watched with her crimson eyes as everyone came to sit on her bed.

"Hey Rei-Rei, how are you feeling?" Cloud asked concerned.

"Could be better…" she mumbled into her pillow. She sighed. _I should just get it over with now_ she thought. "Guys…" she started. "I have something to tell you.

"What is it Rei?" Cloud asked. Leon even looked a little interested now. "You know you can tell us anything. After all you're like a brother to us now"

"My name isn't Rei…" she sat up letting the comforter fall to reveal the slim fitting tank top. "It's Reina. Reina Valentine…" there was another pause. "And I'm a girl"

Cloud's eyes grew wide and Leon remained as apathetic as ever. But then Cloud just smiled and nodded.

"No big deal" he said. "I already have a sister, but having another one won't be so bad" he said shrugging it off.

"Wait…so you have a sister too?" Axel said surprised.

"Yeah, she's your age Axel. She goes to St. Lorelei d'Izlude" Cloud responded.

"Was there a specific reason you never told us this?" Axel asked.

"You never ask!" Cloud yelled irritated that he had to reiterate that point. He cleared his throat and calmed himself down. "Her name's Rikku and she's a little hyper. You'd probably like her Axel"

"Wait so nobody cares that I'm a girl?" Reina said. Looking around it seemed that everyone agreed on that point. "Well that makes me feel a whole lot better" she said.

"So…" Riku started. "We've got loads of food. A TV, at least 3 games systems, and a whole night…" He smirked mischievously.

"Ooo! I like that plan my friend" Axel said happily. Axel jumped off of the bed and ran over to the game console. "Now what to play…racer or shooter…racer or shooter…" he muttered comparing two games.

"Why don't we watch a movie?" Sephiroth suggested. Everyone turned to look at him. "Well we always play video games when we're together. I feel we should do something different for a change" he said walking over to a stack of DVDs that sat by the games. He searched through them quickly and chose one.

"Alright everyone get a seat before I put the movie on" he said like he was instructing three year olds.

"Oh!! I want popcorn!" Cloud whined. Leon sighed.

"Hey Reina, do you have any popcorn?" the brunette asked.

"Check the box beside the fridge, I should have some microwavable popcorn in there" she said making her way over to the couch.

"And do you have a microwave?" Leon asked looking around the room.

"Ugh…check inside the closet that's where I keep everything" she said settling herself with a pillow on the end of the couch. She watched as Leon found a bag of popcorn and stuck it inside the microwave. "There's a box of gummi bears and gummi worms down there too!" she said. "Pass those up and probably some Glosettes" She saw Axel scrunch up his face in her peripheral vision.

"Eww…Glosettes? Who actually eats those? I mean come on! Chocolate covered raisins? Gross. Just fucking gross" he ended.

"Oh shut up Axel" Leon said as he hand Reina the packet of Glosettes and passed the gummies down. By the time that Cloud's popcorn was ready they had already started playing the movie. Sephiroth had chosen a classic 'Interview with the Vampire'. The group watched in silence, for at least the first five minutes. But of course Axel couldn't take the quiet peaceful atmosphere. Talking loudly and giving his opinions on everything earned him not only a few death glares and threats but lots and lots of snacks being thrown at him.

"Oh that's it suckers. Bring it!" he yelled grabbing the gummi bear box from Riku. Axel started to pelt them all with the small multi coloured bears. Soon he was struck by a gummi worm to the forehead, then popcorn, and last but not least a glosette.

"Glossette?" he started to say maniacally. "Now this is war!" Soon the movie was forgotten and food was scattered all over the floor. The group was laughing hysterically as they picked pieces of food from their hair.

"Well we just completely ruined movie night" Riku stated picking a gummi worm out from his hair and popping it into his mouth. "This is entirely your fault Axel"

"I don't know guys. In my opinion tonight was perfect" Reina said smiling.

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_**You'd think this was the end wouldn't you? No it's not suckers you have to deal with more chapters of this fic. Bwahahaha. Anyway now time for apologies. Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I did try to edit my last chapter considering the typos and grammar errors. I wanted to get ahead on this story by writing two or three chapters so I wouldn't miss post deadlines but couldn't get that done. I'm also studying for my science exams. I don't have a semester-ed school but I've finished my science course early. And my average isn't that bad (-) Anyway yeah I already know a bit of what happens next chapter. And then the chapter after that is going to be a filler. But about what you won't know until it's posted. Anyway TTFN (Tata for now)**_

_**-KEC**_


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